‘H Bomb’ row: Rahul Gandhi’s Haryana voter fraud charge linked to clerical error, say locals

The issue gained national traction after Rahul Gandhi alleged “unprecedented voter fraud” in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, claiming that 25 lakh fake votes were cast in a state with two crore registered voters.

A small house in Haryana’s Hodal town has found itself at the centre of a national political storm after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cited it as proof of alleged large-scale voter fraud in the state.

The Congress claimed that 501 voters were registered under one address, House No. 265, calling it evidence of “massive irregularities” in Haryana’s electoral rolls. However, a ground verification in Ward No. 21 indicates that the anomaly may have resulted from a clerical or data-entry mistake, not a coordinated conspiracy, states an India Today report.

The property in discussion reportedly belongs to Sundar Singh, a local BJP leader and former municipal councillor.

Residents and local officials told reporters that the confusion arose when several adjoining homes were incorrectly assigned the same house number by the Booth Level Officer (BLO) during data entry.

“We have five adjoining houses belonging to my brothers and cousins — all were mistakenly listed as House No. 265,” said Singh as cited in the India Today report. “Even houses of my grandfather’s brothers in nearby lanes were assigned the same number.”

Singh acknowledged that a few people could be registered in both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, but maintained that the issue was administrative. Locals agreed, blaming the mix-up on clerical oversight, pointing out that their Aadhaar cards carried correct addresses, while the voter list did not.

Meanwhile, following the controversy, the Palwal district administration has launched a door-to-door verification drive to fix errors in the rolls.

BLOs have been asked to physically verify every household in the ward.

The issue gained national traction after Rahul Gandhi alleged “unprecedented voter fraud” in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, claiming that 25 lakh fake votes were cast in a state with two crore registered voters. “One in every eight voters is fake — 12.5%,” Gandhi had claimed early this week, branding his revelation the “H Bomb.”

Presenting what he called “100% proof,” Gandhi alleged instances of duplicate voter IDs, repeated photos under multiple names, and even cited a Brazilian model’s photo used 22 times under different identities. He accused the Election Commission of “helping the BJP” by refusing to remove duplicate entries and warned of similar “vote theft” in the upcoming Bihar elections.

The Election Commission dismissed the claims, saying there were no formal complaints or appeals regarding Haryana’s voter rolls. “

Only 22 election petitions are pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against 90 constituencies,” an EC official remarked, questioning why Congress polling agents did not raise objections during voting.

The BJP has accused Gandhi of attempting to deflect attention from the party’s expected loss in Bihar. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Congress was “trying to hide its failures,” while Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan posted on X that Gandhi “has no faith in the Constitution, democracy, or the people’s mandate.”