Things got really heated in the capital on Thursday when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi stood up at Indira Bhawan and went straight for the jugular. He looked into the cameras and called Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar a “deshdrohi” – a traitor – and said the man must resign right away.
This wasn’t some mild political jab. Gandhi was reacting to a report in The Indian Express that two other Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had put objections on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months. The objections were about decisions around the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, changes to forms, voter lists, and how the database was being handled. According to the report, some of those decisions were taken without the other two commissioners even knowing.
Gandhi didn’t mince words. “A person who attacks the vote and fundamentally destroys India’s democratic institutions is nothing less than a deshdrohi. You can’t give him some other word,” he said. He told Kumar to step down immediately and even suggested the CEC should become an approver – turn state’s witness – calling that an act of nationalism. “We have enough information to prove this with certainty. There are going to be consequences,” Gandhi added. “We are not going to let democracy be destroyed in India and sit silent.”
He linked it all to his long-running “vote chori” charge. From vote theft, he said, comes “kanoon chori” – law theft. If the vote itself is broken, then the laws made by people elected through that process lose their legitimacy. “The vote is the foundation of our country. If the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed,” he argued. Gandhi claimed elections after 2023, including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and several assembly elections, were fundamentally compromised. He pointed to how anti-incumbency seemed to vanish for the BJP in places like Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh – something he said never happens in a real democracy.
Then he turned the heat on the top. Gandhi named Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah as being at the head of what he called a conspiracy. He played video clips of them talking about the BJP staying in power for 30 years and the “Abki Baar 400 Paar” slogan. “No political leader who operates in a democratic environment can make such statements,” Gandhi said. “In India there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency. It doesn’t spare anybody.” He claimed Modi and Shah would face investigation for what has been done to the country’s democratic architecture.
Gandhi also reminded everyone that he had submitted a dissent note when Kumar was appointed CEC in February 2025 by the selection committee that included the PM, the Home Minister and himself. He had wanted the process to stay independent of executive influence.
The BJP didn’t take long to hit back. Spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi dismissed the whole press conference. He said Rahul Gandhi’s claims were based on “unknown, conspicuous and dubious sources” and that the Congress leader “has no knowledge of this.” Trivedi argued that the Congress itself found it hard to return to power once elections became more transparent with CCTV cameras and an independent media. Other BJP voices, including Pradeep Bhandari, called the press conference a damp squib and pointed out that the BJP has lost elections too since 2014. They reminded people that Congress ruled for long stretches earlier without anyone calling it vote theft. Sambit Patra, responding to the broader attack, said the party was trying to protect India’s democracy and constitutional institutions, not any one individual, and accused the opposition of spreading malicious propaganda.
This is not the first time the Election Commission has been in the crosshairs. Gandhi has been raising the “vote chori” issue for years, pointing to voter list problems in different states. The latest report about internal objections inside the three-member commission has given the opposition fresh ammunition. Some opposition leaders are already talking about moving an impeachment motion against the CEC in Parliament.
For ordinary people watching this, it raises bigger questions. How independent is the Election Commission supposed to be? What happens when two commissioners keep recording objections and nothing seems to change? And when the Leader of the Opposition calls the CEC a traitor and says the Prime Minister and Home Minister are at the top of a conspiracy, the political temperature shoots up.
Gandhi made it clear his party will not stay quiet. “Deshdrohis will be punished,” he said. The BJP, on its side, is painting this as another attempt by a frustrated opposition to question institutions after losing elections. The ball is now in the court of public opinion and, eventually, Parliament.
Whether this leads to any real change inside the Election Commission or just more political fireworks remains to be seen. But one thing is clear – the fight over the integrity of India’s elections has moved to a new and sharper level.
Sources:
The Indian Express investigation on internal objections by Election Commissioners; PTI reports from Rahul Gandhi’s press conference at Indira Bhawan; statements by BJP spokespersons Sudhanshu Trivedi, Pradeep Bhandari and Sambit Patra; coverage from ANI, Business Standard, India Today and NDTV.
@Rohit Manral
