‘Hydrogen bomb loading’: Rahul Gandhi again teases big reveal on voter-roll scam

Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi turned up the heat on the Election Commission on Thursday, unveiling new claims of voter-roll tampering while keeping his promised "vote-chori hydrogen bomb" under wraps for now.

Presenting a detailed PowerPoint at a press conference, Gandhi accused the Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of orchestrating a systematic, large-scale deletion of voters from Congress strongholds ahead of Karnataka's 2023 Assembly polls.

"This is not the hydrogen bomb," he told reporters, adding that the big reveal is being prepared. "I said to my team: if I'm going on stage, I need solid, black-and-white evidence - proof nobody can deny. Only then will I speak."

He asserted that Thursday's presentation offered "100 per cent evidence that cannot be questioned," and urged the ECI to release relevant data within a week. "If they don't, it will confirm that Gyanesh Kumar is shielding those undermining the Constitution," he said.

Gandhi first floated the phrase on September 1 while addressing a "voter adhikar" rally in Bihar, organised with ally Rashtriya Janata Dal. The opposition bloc, which leads the Mahagathbandhan alliance in the state, has accused the ECI's ongoing "special intensive revision" of Bihar's electoral rolls of targeting their voter base. The rally aimed to highlight those concerns.