Is BJP Distorting Data and Forging Letters?

Synopsis
Key Takeaways
- The BJP faces serious allegations from Congress regarding data manipulation.
- A forged letter attributed to K.C. Venugopal has been circulated on social media.
- The controversy revolves around the integrity of India’s electoral process.
- Congress continues to demand transparency and accountability from the Election Commission.
- The political debate is intensifying as both parties remain entrenched in their positions.
New Delhi, Aug 19 (NationPress) The political turmoil surrounding the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress figure Rahul Gandhi’s “Vote Chori” campaign escalated on Tuesday. The Congress party accused the BJP of manipulating voter data and disseminating a forged letter supposedly authored by Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal.
Pawan Khera, the Chairman of AICC's Media and Publicity department, remarked, “The BJP’s desperation is almost tragic,” adding, “They spent half the day twisting a data correction into propaganda, and the other half forging documents to tarnish our leadership.”
Khera shared his thoughts on his X account, referring to the forgery allegations linked to a letter falsely attributed to K.C. Venugopal, which emerged on social media but was swiftly rejected by Congress as counterfeit.
According to Khera, Venugopal, who has openly criticized the Election Commission over its management of voter roll revisions and the deletion of CCTV footage, did not issue such a letter.
The Congress party has called for an investigation into the origins of the forged document, alleging that accounts associated with the BJP are disseminating it to create confusion and undermine the opposition’s campaign.
Venugopal previously condemned the Election Commission for what he described as a “shameless dereliction of duty,” pointing out the removal of 65 lakh voter names in Bihar and the refusal to provide machine-readable rolls.
His comments were made in support of Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing “Voter Adhikar Yatra,” which aims to reveal purported collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission in manipulating electoral results.
The controversy gained traction after Lokniti-CSDS co-director Sanjay Kumar publicly apologized for sharing incorrect voter data from Maharashtra, which several Congress leaders had cited to substantiate claims of significant voter manipulation.
Following Kumar’s retraction of the data, which illustrated drastic shifts in voter numbers between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, he acknowledged a misinterpretation by his team.
While the BJP leveraged Kumar’s withdrawal to undermine Rahul Gandhi’s broader claims of electoral fraud, Congress leaders accused the ruling party of weaponizing a technical error to divert focus from pressing concerns about voter roll integrity.
The BJP intensified its counter-campaign, with spokespersons like Amit Malviya and Gaurav Bhatia accusing Congress of spreading misinformation and demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi.
“The very institution whose data Rahul Gandhi relied upon has now admitted its figures were incorrect,” Malviya stated, branding the Congress campaign as “regressive and shameful.”
Despite the withdrawal of the CSDS data, Congress asserts that its allegations are grounded in various sources, including internal audits and field reports from booth-level agents.
As the exchange of accusations escalates, the Election Commission has largely remained quiet, issuing only a press note labelling the allegations as “baseless.”
With both factions entrenched in their positions, the “Vote Chori” debate is rapidly emerging as a flashpoint in India’s post-election political landscape.