A Shashi Tharoor Push To Rahul Gandhi Poll Claim Amid Rift Over Op Sindoor

Shashi Tharoor, one of the most distinguished Congress MPs, has emerged in support of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his voter fraud charge, amid an internal rift that has reflected in multiple disagreements within the party in recent weeks.

Mr Gandhi had yesterday made an explosive claim of voter fraud in Karnataka, during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, accusing the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP to steal the election. The BJP denied the charges as "baseless".

Mr Tharoor, who had sternly opposed the Congress's view on Operation Sindoor and was left out of the Lok Sabha debate on Operation Sindoor, emerged as an unlikely supporter in the heated controversy and called for a serious discussion on the matter.

These are serious questions which must be seriously addressed in the interests of all parties & all voters. Our democracy is too precious to allow its credibility to be destroyed by incompetence, carelessness or worse, deliberate tampering. @ECISVEEP must urgently act &… https://t.co/RvKd4mSkae

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 8, 2025

"These are serious questions which must be seriously addressed in the interests of all parties and all voters. Our democracy is too precious to allow its credibility to be destroyed by incompetence, carelessness, or worse, deliberate tampering," said Mr Tharoor in an online post early this morning.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP also called on the EC to act urgently and said that its spokesperson must keep the nation informed.

Read: "Absurd Analysis": Poll Body Slams Rahul Gandhi Over Voter Fraud Charge

His support for Mr Gandhi emerges from a cloud of uncertainty over the Congress's relationship with the diplomat-turned-politician, who led arguably one of the most important delegations - to the US - in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. While the Congress tried to corner the government during the Op Sindoor debate in the parliament last month, Mr Tharoor quietly sat out, contending he would not contradict his earlier position that the military operation was successful.

Rahul Gandhi's Big Charge

Mr Gandhi yesterday alleged that a massive voter fraud has been unearthed in the Mahadevpura assembly segment in the Bangalore Central seat during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

With a PowerPoint presentation, he explained the way the Bangalore seat was allegedly "stolen", claiming over a lakh votes were stolen in the Mahadevapura assembly in Karnataka. He also accused the EC of drafting a "choreographed schedule" for the assembly polls in collusion with the ruling BJP.

In a strong rebuttal, the EC dared him to submit a complaint under oath or stop misleading citizens, and circulated a format that he could use as a declaration for filing the complaint.

Read: "Harmful To Our Democracy": BJP Slams Rahul Gandhi Over Poll Fraud Charge

Mr Gandhi is yet to submit the complaint, pointed out the BJP this morning, contending that his failing to do so would prove that he has no real case. BJP's media cell chief Amit Malviya trained guns at the Opposition leader in an online post this morning, questioning his reluctance to submit the declaration containing the names of ineligible electors that he claimed were on the voter list.

"If he fails to do so, it will be crystal clear that he has no real case and was indulging in political theatre, only to obfuscate facts, plant doubts in people's minds, and tarnish the image of a constitutional body entrusted with free and fair elections," he said.

"Such conduct is reckless and harmful to our democracy," asserted Mr Malviya.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress MP from Kerala's Wayanad, backed her brother over the allegations.

"Rahul Gandhi ji has made such a big revelation, it should be investigated. The Election Commission is not providing the voter list, is not conducting an investigation, and instead is demanding an affidavit. We are continuously showing data, but why is the Commission not ready to accept its own data?" she questioned.

"From the kind of statements coming from the BJP and the Election Commission, one thing is absolutely clear: there is massive fraud happening," the Wayanad MP asserted while speaking to reporters at the parliament.