Himanta slams Rahul Gandhi’s 'vote chori' claim, says allegations surface only when BJP wins

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of casting doubts on the electoral process only when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerges victorious. 

Sarma's remarks came a day after Gandhi alleged a “huge criminal fraud” in the Lok Sabha elections, accusing the BJP and Election Commission of collusion under a “vote chori model.”

Speaking to reporters in Udalguri, Sarma mocked Gandhi’s pattern of allegations. “When Rahul Gandhi wins elections, everything is okay. When the BJP wins, he says there is some ‘gondogol’,” Sarma said, referring to the Congress leader’s long-standing doubts about electoral integrity.

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“There is no ‘vote chori’ in Karnataka or Telangana where Congress is in power. But when we win, suddenly it's ‘vote chori’,” the chief minister added. “Till now, they were blaming EVMs for BJP's victories. Now it's this new narrative.”

Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference in Delhi on Thursday, had pointed to alleged voter fraud in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, citing over one lakh fake, duplicate, or bulk voters, and misuse of Form 6 to manipulate voter rolls.

Sarma dismissed the allegations as politically motivated and claimed they reflect the opposition’s discomfort with BJP’s democratic successes.