CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign; Modi, Shah will be investigated for ‘vote chori’, says Rahul Gandhi

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Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi addresses the media on CEC Gyanesh Kumar row at the Congress Headquarters in New Delhi on September 24, 2026. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday (September 24, 2026), reiterated that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar should resign immediately, amid the increasing calls for his removal.

Mr. Gandhi also alleged conspiracy on part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over “vote theft” and backing the CEC and said that they “are going to be investigated” for this. His press meet came after a report on dissent within the Election Commission of India (ECI). In his address, Mr. Gandhi said that the two Election Commissioners (ECs) have done the wise thing and Mr. Kumar “should seriously think and turn approver” in the country’s interest.

He also said that the two ECs started opposing Mr. Kumar after the Congress had repeatedly raised “vote chori” issue following the Haryana and the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

“I can say with certainty that Indian elections, 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls, were all rigged,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Recalling the dissent note he gave during the appointment of Mr. Kumar in February 2025, and said that the government “junked” the note.

At the beginning of his speech, Mr. Gandhi played older videos of Home Minister Amit Shah saying that the BJP will remain in power for at least 30 to 50 years after winning in 2014. He also played a video of PM Modi saying that the BJP will win 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He says every leader and party has faced anti-incumbency except Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah. “This has been a puzzle for us. Where has India’s political force disappeared?” he says.

“From the vote, the Constitution gets its power; from the Constitution our laws are made. And from our laws, emerge our institution. This is a chain and this chain defines modern India... If the vote has been destroyed then our constitution has been destroyed; it no longer has its power, it no longer functions; if our constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. And if our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless,” he said.

He said that any laws and institutional changes made in Parliament by the MPs who are elected by “stolen vote” are “illegal”.

“This is not just an attack on the vote. This is an attack on the idea, on the basic infrastructure, on the expression of every single Indian. We have been saying it again and again and again that there is a problem with the vote,” he added.

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