No Vote Theft: Indian Express Investigation Counters Rahul Gandhi’s Claims On Haryana Polls

After Rahul Gandhi claimed the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections were “stolen” — citing instances of suspicious voter listings, including houses with hundreds of registered voters and fake photos — The Indian Express visited the addresses he mentioned to verify the allegations.

In Hodal, the team found that the house listed with 66 voters belongs to BJP zila parishad vice-chairperson Umesh Gudhrana, whose extended family of several generations shares a large plot, all registered under the same house number. Similarly, another address with 501 registered voters turned out to be a large tract of land where over 200 houses and schools now stand, all using one address for voter registration. Residents confirmed they had legitimately voted and denied any fraudulent activity.

In Sonipat’s Rai constituency, where Gandhi alleged that a Brazilian woman’s photo appeared on multiple voter IDs, The Indian Express traced four women linked to the alleged mismatch. Each woman confirmed she had voted normally and was unaware of any such issue. One woman did have an incorrect photo on her voter card — that of another local resident, not a foreign national.

Election officials and BLOs stated they were unaware of how the wrong photos were uploaded but affirmed that all voters had proper identification during polling.

Despite Gandhi’s claims, on-the-ground findings show no evidence of vote theft or fake ballots. In both Hodal and Rai, voters confirmed they participated in the elections with valid documents, and the supposed anomalies stem from large family plots and clerical photo mismatches rather than electoral fraud.