Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that “elections are being stolen in India”, reported ANI.

The leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha was answering a question about the Election Commission’s statement that more than 52.3 lakh voters were not found at their addresses during the ongoing electoral roll revision exercise.

Stating that it was not just a question about the exercise in Bihar, he repeated his allegations that the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections were marked by fraud.

“We asked the ECI to show the voter’s list, but they refused,” said the Congress leader. “We asked them to show videography, but they changed the rules of videography. One crore new voters were added in Maharashtra.”

He also claimed that the Congress had “caught a huge theft” in Karnataka, which he will show in “black and white” to the Election Commission.

“Now, what they are doing is that they have deleted the voters, and a new voter list will be brought,” Gandhi said while speaking about the voter roll revision in Bihar.

Gandhi and the Congress have repeatedly alleged that there was “industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions” in the Maharashtra polls held in November.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance had defeated the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes the Congress, in the polls.

The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. This means that 2.9 crore out of the state’s 7.8 crore voters – or about 37% of the electors – will have to submit documentary evidence.

Voters born before July 1, 1987, must show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will need proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.

If the officers are satisfied with the details provided, the voters will be re-enrolled to a new voter list by electoral registration officers. If not, they will be removed from the voter lists.

A draft roll will be published on August 1 and the final roll will be out on September 30.

On July 2, eleven INDIA bloc parties told the Election Commission that the special intensive revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls risked disenfranchising more than 2.5 crore voters, as they may not be able to produce the necessary documents.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on July 6 defended the exercise, claiming that the exercise had to be carried out as no one was satisfied with the current voter rolls.

On Tuesday, the poll panel stated that more than 7.5 lakh voters in Bihar are enrolled at multiple places. Additionally, more than 18.6 lakh voters in the current roll have possibly died and about 26.01 lakh voters were likely to have permanently shifted.

The Election Commission also said that 7.1 crore, or 90.6%, voters have submitted their enumeration forms so far. A small number of 11,484 voters were not traceable, it added.