BJP Accuses Congress of ‘Baseless’ Vote Theft Allegations, Claims Collusion with Delhi Think Tank

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, strongly criticized the Congress party for making “baseless” allegations of vote theft and targeting the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The BJP alleged that the Congress was working “in collusion” with a Delhi-based think tank to question the credibility of elections.

Sanjay Kumar’s Erroneous Post

The controversy erupted after Sanjay Kumar, psephologist and professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), shared voter data from two Maharashtra Assembly seats on X on Sunday, August 17, 2025.

His post claimed a sharp decline in voter numbers in last year’s state elections compared to the 2024 general election held six months earlier.

On Tuesday, Kumar deleted the post and issued an apology, writing, “I sincerely apologise for the tweets posted regarding Maharashtra elections. An error occurred while comparing the data of 2024 LS and 2024 AS. The data in the row was misread by our Data team.” He clarified that he had “no intention of dispersing any form of misinformation.”

BJP Calls It a “Dangerous Game”

Reacting to Kumar’s post, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused him of spreading “false data” that the Opposition used to attack the Election Commission.

He said, “Congress leader Pawan Khera tweets on this and then deletes. Rahul Gandhi’s baseless allegations are also based on CSDS data.”

Bhatia charged that the CSDS was acting like a “puppet” of Rahul Gandhi, claiming, “This survey organisation (CSDS) is nothing but a puppet in the hands of leaders like Rahul Gandhi who could not win people’s trust.”

Allegations of Foreign Influence

The BJP further alleged that the CSDS was being funded by foreign organisations to interfere in India’s electoral process.

Bhatia claimed, “Its foreign funding comes so that interference in elections in India can be done through those parties which work against national interest and raise questions on our Army.”

Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT department, wrote on X that CSDS had received repeated funding from international institutions such as the Ford Foundation, IDRC (Canada), Gates Foundation, DFID (UK), NORAD (Norway), and others.

He argued that these were not “disinterested donors” but agencies with a history of trying to “fracture society from within.”

CSDS and Caste-Based Surveys

The BJP also criticized the CSDS for allegedly creating divisions in Indian society. Bhatia said the organisation conducted caste-based surveys of Hindu communities but did not conduct similar surveys for Muslim communities.

He called this “criminal negligence,” claiming the agency was not producing scholarship but “strategy” for the Opposition.

Congress Alleges Vote Theft in Madhya Pradesh

Meanwhile, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh, Umang Singhar, alleged that “votes were stolen” in more than 27 seats in the 2023 assembly elections, which he claimed gave “unethical benefit” to the BJP.

Singhar presented data suggesting a suspicious rise in voter numbers before the election.

He said that while only 4.64 lakh voters were added between January and August 2023, an “unexpected” 16.05 lakh voters were added between August and October 2023—just ahead of polling on November 17.

“Vote theft took place in more than 27 assembly seats in the state and this was done to give unethical benefit to the BJP,” he alleged.

Irregularities in Voter List

Singhar also alleged large-scale irregularities in the voter list, including duplicate entries and abnormal voter increases.

He claimed the Madhya Pradesh Election Commission had ordered the deletion of 8.51 lakh fake or duplicate entries in December 2022 but no district officer published a report.

He demanded that the Election Commission freeze the final voter list, release complete data in “machine-readable format,” and ensure all parties verify it before elections.

BJP Hits Back at Congress

State minister Vishwas Sarang dismissed Singhar’s allegations, calling them “misleading.”

He asked why the Congress was raising the issue 20 months after the election results, saying, “Why is the Congress’s Kumbhkarni sleep breaking 20 months after the assembly elections?”

He further alleged that the “first theft of votes in independent India was done by Jawaharlal Nehru himself to become Prime Minister.”

Sarang stressed that under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, objections to voter lists must be filed within 45 days of election results. He accused Congress of not respecting constitutional institutions and joining Rahul Gandhi’s “politics of lies and deceit.”