VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

The "vote theft" slogan has united the opposition, energised the Congress and raised questions about the legitimacy of elections and the Modi government

- BADAR BASHIR

Had anyone other than Rahul Gandhi broken the news of “vote theft”, there would have been less stir. Media attention would likely have been muted, a few opposition politicians might have debated it briefly and the issue would then have faded away like the many controversies in the past. But with Rahul presenting an elaborate, data-backed explanation, the accusations against the ruling BJP and its alleged misuse of the Election Commission (EC) have grown louder and harder to ignore.

For the first time in years, the entire opposition spectrum spoke in one voice in support of the leader of the opposition. Some, such as Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP), even cited instances of “vote theft” in their own regions, strengthening Rahul's claims.

The opposition, long demoralised by a string of defeats, now sensed it had enough cards to politically counter the BJP's momentum.

What made the development striking was Rahul's personal involvement. He had taken a direct interest in electoral data, leading to his explosive press conference on August 7. "I will study the data charts myself," he told Praveen Chakravarty, chairman of the Congress Professionals' Wing and head of the data analytics department, after the party's crushing defeat in the Maharashtra assembly election. Rahul had become convinced that recent elections were unfair. For the first time, he sought to examine Excel sheets and voter rolls himself.