On 2nd September, the Congress Party faced a major embarrassment when its leader Rahul Gandhi’s repeated allegations of “vote chori” turned against his own party. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya exposed that Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera himself holds two active voter IDs, which directly contradicted the claims of the Congress leadership. Malviya pointed out that Khera’s name exists in two separate constituencies—one under the Jangpura Assembly constituency and another under the New Delhi Assembly constituency.

Two active EPIC numbers in Khera’s name

According to details highlighted by Malviya and confirmed in the final voter list by OpIndia through the Election Commission of India’s website, Pawan Khera is listed with two separate EPIC numbers. In Jangpura, his entry appears with EPIC number XHC1992338, while in New Delhi, his name is listed again with EPIC number SJE0755967. Importantly, both entries remain active and valid.

This duplicate entry has raised a serious question for the Election Commission to probe—how is it possible that a senior political spokesperson is holding two active voter IDs? Malviya also added in his post that authorities are now examining whether Khera has ever cast votes multiple times using these duplicate records.

Family name still in voter list despite death

The irregularities do not end here. When OpIndia checked other voters listed at the same address, it found that Rupam Khera’s name is still active in the electoral roll, despite Rupam having passed away in 2021 due to COVID-19 infection. The failure to delete the name of a deceased family member from the voter list raises even more doubts about the sincerity of Congress leaders when they accuse others of electoral fraud.

Additionally, the records also reveal that one person named Sharav Kumar Prajapat appears in both voter lists, again highlighting duplication issues. On the other hand, Khera’s wife’s name, which was earlier included in the Jangpura constituency list, has now been marked as deleted.

This contradiction is striking. Despite Congress leaders loudly claiming “vote chori”, even the most basic task of removing deceased relatives from electoral rolls seems neglected by their own party members.

Hypocrisy in the face of electoral laws

The Congress party has often positioned itself as the guardian of electoral integrity, frequently lecturing others about maintaining clean voter rolls. In the past, its leaders even created an uproar when the name of one voter appeared four times across different locations. Eventually, the same person came on camera and clarified that he had already submitted applications to remove old entries from constituencies he had lived in previously, but the electoral rolls had not been updated.

The irony is evident—their own records reek of irregularities.

Amit Malviya also reminded the public that Sonia Gandhi was enlisted in India’s voter list even before becoming a citizen. Furthermore, Rahul Gandhi himself has not submitted any formal sworn complaint to back his allegations of voter fraud in Mahadevapura, Bengaluru. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has already dismissed a case alleging irregularities in Maharashtra, weakening Congress’s claims even further. 

Earlier, Pawan Khera had tried to defend his party by sharing information based on a post by CSDS-Lokniti’s Sanjay Kumar on X. The post had alleged irregularities in Maharashtra’s voter rolls. However, this claim collapsed when Kumar later deleted his post, admitting that his team had “misread” the tables.

In the past two months, every claim made by Rahul Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders against the Election Commission has collapsed under scrutiny. What was projected as evidence of “vote chori” has instead exposed lapses within their own house.