‘Problem with electoral machinery in India’: Rahul Gandhi at lecture in Germany

BERLIN: Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a lecture in Berlin, Germany, again levelled “vote theft” allegations on the Government of India, pointing out the duplicate voters in the voter list.

Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Congress won the Haryana Assembly elections in 2024 and the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2024 “were not fair”. The Lok Sabha LoP shared that his party did not receive a “response” from the Election Commission when they flagged the issue.

Addressing a gathering at the Hertie School on ‘Politics Is The Art Of Listening’, Rahul Gandhi said, “We have won elections in Telangana, Himachal Pradesh. We have been raising issues as far as the fairness of elections in India is concerned. I have done press conferences in India where we have clearly shown without a shadow of a doubt that we won the Haryana election and that we don’t feel the Maharashtra elections were fair. There is a full-scale assault taking place on the institutional framework of our country. We asked direct questions to the Election Commission”.

We have shown with proofs that we won Haryana Election, we showed how a Brazilian woman was on Haryana voter list.

we are seeing weaponisation of Indian institutions, we are not fighting only BJP, we are fighting BJP capture of our institution.

— Rahul Gandhi Ji in Germany pic.twitter.com/0xEX8VgqZq

— Shantanu (@shaandelhite) December 22, 2025

“A Brazilian woman was there on the voting list 22 times in Haryana… We did not get a response. We fundamentally believe that there is a problem with the electoral machinery in India”, he added. Rahul Gandhi also alleged that the Centre has “weaponised” investigating agencies, suggesting a quid pro quo in which businessmen in India financially support the BJP rather than Opposition parties.

He said, “There is a wholesale capture of our institutional framework. Our intelligence agencies, ED and CBI, have been weaponised. ED and CBI have zero cases against the BJP, and most of the political cases are against the people who oppose them. If you are a businessman and try to support the Congress, you are threatened. BJP uses the institutional framework of India as a tool to build political power. Look at the money the BJP has and the Opposition has.”

He added that Congress will create a “system of resistance” against the capture of institutions. “There is an attack on the democratic system. We have to find ways to counter this. We will create a system of opposition resistance that will succeed. We are not fighting the BJP, but their capture of the Indian institutional structure,” the Congress leader said.

Rahul Gandhi is on a five-day visit to Germany. The Lok Sabha LoP has been consistently levelling “vote theft” allegations on the Central Government, accusing them of “rigging” elections by voter list manipulation. (ANI)