Congress Pilot Program In 5 Select LS Seats To Counter Vote Theft
The party’s ‘vote rakshaks’ will monitor the voter list in these seats at the booth level to secure future elections.
Published : September 20, 2025 at 10:34 PM IST
New Delhi: The Congress has started a pilot project called ‘vote rakshak’ in five select Lok Sabha seats where party candidates lost the 2024 polls with a narrow margin or doubts exist.
The pilot program is part of the nationwide drive the grand old party has launched to fight vote theft or voter list manipulations allegedly at the hands of the BJP after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi flagged the issue.
According to party insiders, the ‘vote rakshaks’ will not only analyze the 2024 national elections, but they will also keep an eye on ensuring no fake additions and deletions of genuine voters are being done at the booth level. Later, the program will be expanded to other seats, the insiders said.
The Lok Sabha seats selected are Jaipur Rural and Alwar in Rajasthan, Kanker in Chhattisgarh, Morena in Madhya Pradesh and Bansgaon in Uttar Pradesh.
Barring Alwar, where the margin of victory of the BJP candidate was over 48000 votes and in Morena, where the margin was 52000 votes, in the other three seats, the Congress nominee lost by a few thousand votes.
To facilitate the pilot project and the time-consuming analysis of hard copies of voter lists available, one sample assembly constituency in all five parliamentary seats will be selected to carry out a detailed report, as well as to monitor the ‘vote rakshaks.’
“We have identified the Jhotwara and Alwar City assembly seats falling under the Jaipur Rural and Alwar Lok Sabha seats, respectively, for the study. Jhotwara has been selected because the BJP got a lead of over 1 lakh votes there. In the other assembly seats falling under the parliamentary constituency, our candidate had a lead, but this one seat changed the entire result. Our candidate lost by just 1615 votes. This created a doubt in our minds,” AICC secretary in charge of Rajasthan Chiranjeev Rao told ETV Bharat.
“We have chosen the Alwar City assembly seat under the Alwar Lok Sabha constituency, as we have a doubt that vote theft has mainly taken place in the urban areas. The ‘vote rakshaks’ in both places are being deployed. They will operate at the booth level and ensure no genuine names are deleted or no fake ones are added to the voter list. They will also analyze the 2024 poll results,” he said.
Out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, the Congress won 8 and the BJP 14. Congress nominee Anil Chopra lost to the BJP’s Rao Rajendra Singh by just 1615 votes in the Jaipur Rural seat. In Alwar, Congress nominee Lalit Yadav lost to BJP’s Bhupendra Yadav by 48282 votes.
In Chhattisgarh, the BJP won 10 Lok Sabha seats against just 1 of the Congress out of 11. In the Kanker parliamentary seat, the Congress nominee Biresh Thakur lost to bjp’s Bhojraj Nag by just 1884 votes.
“We had reports of vote theft from many seats, but Kanker certainly will be explored in detail. There were many complaints from there during the polls,” Chhattisgarh Congress chief Deepak Baij told ETV Bharat.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP won all 29 Lok Sabha seats. In Morena, Congress nominee Satyapal Sikarwar lost to BJP’s Shivmangal Singh Tomar by 52,530 votes.
In Uttar Pradesh, out of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress had won 6 seats and the BJP got 33 seats. In the Bansgaon seat, Congress nominee Sadal Prasad lost to BJP’s Kamlesh Paswan by just 3150 votes.
During the counting of votes, Sadal Prasad had threatened self-immolation over alleged irregularities. The same night, Rahul Gandhi had spoken to him over the phone. A few days later, the grand old party had sought a recount in all five assembly seats falling under the Bansgaon Lok Sabha seat, said the insiders.
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