- Rahul Gandhi claimed 80 voters were registered at one 120 sq ft room in Bengaluru's Mahadevapura area
- Room owner Jayaram Reddy denied Mr Gandhi's claim, saying tenants were migrant labourers with temporary stays
- Mr Reddy said tenants used rental agreements to obtain voter ID cards but did not vote at that address
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's claim about 80 people - all registered by the Election Commission as 'residents' of a 120 sq foot room in Bengaluru's Mahadevapura area and allowed to vote in the April-May Lok Sabha election - has been denied by the owner of the room, Jayaram Reddy.
Mr Reddy spoke to NDTV Friday afternoon and said Rahul Gandhi was "confused". He also said his political affiliations - Mr Gandhi had claimed links to the BJP - were firmly with the Congress.
The room-owner said his tenants were a revolving door of migrant labourers who usually stayed for six months to a year. In that time, he claimed, they would get voter ID cards made based on the rent agreement. When they move away, he said, they still use cards with this address.
"... when my brother puts a rental agreement in the (WhatsApp?) group, then they (the current) tenant will make a voter ID card. Then he will stay for six months or a year... but if the payment is more somewhere else (i.e., if the migrant worker finds a higher-paying job) he will go there."
He also claimed the middlemen who provide these voter cards are 'agents' who, for the right price, could supply critical identity documents to anyone, including people from Pakistan.
"If a Pakistani came he (the 'agent') would have made him a voter ID card... if an Indian came he would have made a voter ID card. There are so many people around... from Bangladesh also."
Mr Reddy also said, in his opinion, the migrant workers who secured voter cards did not actually use them to cast votes. "They don't use it for voting... they don't stay here permanently, no? They stay for six months or a year, then they shift. They usually use it as a proof of address."
The room rent - where now a Bengali migrant worker lives - is Rs 5,000 per month.
Asked about Mr Gandhi's claim of a connection between himself and the BJP, Mr Reddy hastily declared, "I am definitely a member of the Congress. Everyone knows that. I supported Congress in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. There is no political affiliation (with the BJP)."
Rahul Gandhi's 'Vote Chori' Charge
Mr Gandhi made his '80-member household' claim Thursday in an attack on the Election Commission and alleged widespread voter ID fraud in collusion with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mr Gandhi accused the Election Commission of voter fraud.
He claimed this cost the Congress 1.02 lakh votes and lost the party a seat - i.e., the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat, which the BJP won by 32,707 votes - in the 2024 federal election.
Mr Gandhi and the Congress have escalated criticism of the Election Commission over what they say are multiple instances of voter fraud, including last year's Maharashtra election.
READ | "If You Attack Constitution...": Rahul Gandhi Targets Poll Panel, Again
The Congress and its allies, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party group, were thumped just months after a big win in the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress' alliance won 30 of the state's 48 parliamentary seats but then won only 50 of 288 Assembly seats.
Mr Gandhi has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of fraud in this regard.
In response the EC has flatly denied any wrongdoing on its part, slammed the claims as "absurd" and demanded Mr Gandhi submit proof - under oath and with a self-signed affidavit - of his allegations.
Earlier today the EC also responded to Mr Gandhi's twin PowerPoint presentations - showcased at meetings of the INDIA opposition bloc - and said the Congress leader's inferences were "misleading".
READ | "Absurd Analysis": Poll Body Slams Rahul Gandhi Over Voter Fraud Charge
"If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis... that his allegations are true, he should have no problem in signing a declaration. If he does not sign it means he does not believe his own analysis..."
READ | Rahul Gandhi Shares Karnataka "Votes Stolen Proof", BJP Says "Bogus"
The BJP's Amit Malviya, meanwhile, scoffed at the Congress leader, and said on X, "... he has no case and (is) 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."
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