Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ powerpoint takes centrestage at high-stakes INDIA bloc gathering

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

At a meet of top INDIA bloc leaders in Delhi on Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi gave a presentation on what he described as the “vote chori” model of the BJP and Election Commission.

Around 50 leaders from 25 parties reportedly attended the high-profile dinner diplomacy meet hosted by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi – which also discussed the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar, statehood for Jammu and Kashmir and the Vice-Presidential polls, among other issues.

This was the first physical meet of the top leaders from the opposition bloc since they last met in June 2024, soon after the Lok Sabha polls at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence.

Later, the Congress party said in a post on X that Gandhi gave a presentation to INDIA bloc leaders on ‘vote theft’. “He explained the entire scheme of how the BJP and the Election Commission are colluding to rig elections, supported by evidence,” the party said, sharing pictures from the gathering.

It further stated that the party, together with the alliance members, is committed to defending democracy and will protect it from being destroyed at all costs.

Among the leaders present at the meet were Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti, SP's Akhilesh Yadav, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Shiv Sena(UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and T R Baalu, CPI(M)'s M A Baby, CPI's D Raja, CPI(ML)'s Dipankar Bhattacharya and MNM chief Kamal Haasan.

नेता विपक्ष श्री @RahulGandhi ने INDIA गठबंधन के नेताओं को 'वोट चोरी' पर प्रेजेंटेशन दी।

BJP और चुनाव आयोग मिलकर चुनाव में कैसे धांधली कर रहे हैं, इसका पूरा खेल उन्होंने सबूतों के साथ समझाया।

हम लोकतंत्र की रक्षा के लिए प्रतिबद्ध हैं और हर कीमत पर इसे खत्म होने से बचाएंगे। pic.twitter.com/ZX12xjbigB

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— Congress (@INCIndia) August 7, 2025

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi called the meeting "positive", and said the SIR and the revelations made by Gandhi remained the main issues. He added that it was not a "formal" meeting, and other issues were also discussed among leaders.

"The way opposition parties have been united in Parliament in national interest and have cornered the government, the same unity was visible in the meeting as well," Gogoi was quoted as saying by PTI.

CPI general secretary D Raja called the meeting "very meaningful". "Today's meeting was very meaningful, the issue was ongoing controversy over SIR, and how EC has been functioning, how wrong things are being done as far as enrolment of voters are concerned, their identities are concerned," Raja said.

"Rahul Gandhi made a power point presentation, he gave several examples. He also said what is happening in Bihar today can happen anywhere in the country," he said.

Opposition leaders are set to take out a protest march from Parliament to the Election Commission headquarters in the national capital against the charges of "election rigging and fraud" as alleged by Gandhi.

At a press conference earlier, Gandhi made a presentation with explosive claims of a "huge criminal fraud" in polls through "collusion" between the BJP and the Election Commission.

(With PTI inputs)