Gidugu Rudra Raju backs Rahul’s charge, seeks EC response on ‘vote theft’
Congress Working Committee member and former Andhra Pradesh PCC president Gidugu Rudra Raju on Saturday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond to the five questions raised by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over alleged large-scale discrepancies in voters’ lists in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana and other States.
Raju said Gandhi’s six-month probe into electoral rolls had exposed what he called the ECI’s “suspicious approach” and a pattern of decisions that appeared to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections across the country.
Touring North Andhra to review party affairs, Raju told The Coastal Times that the ECI’s refusal to share electoral data in digital format was “a deliberate move” to allow malpractice. “The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi won 31 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in 2024. But it was defeated suspiciously in the Assembly elections just four months later. Voters don’t change their opinion so drastically in such a short span — this raises serious doubts about the process,” he said.
He predicted a “massive defeat” for the BJP in the upcoming Bihar elections despite “manipulation of the voters’ list”, crediting Mr. Gandhi’s sustained campaign for bringing the issue to the forefront. “People are watching through frontline media and social media. They know what’s happening,” Raju said.
Turning to Andhra Pradesh politics, Raju said the Congress was poised for a revival as people were “fed up” with the administration of both the YSR Congress Party and the Telugu Desam Party over the last 11 years. “AP was vibrant when the Congress was in power. Only the Congress can put the State back on the development path, starting with its promise on Special Category Status,” he said.
He added that the All India Congress Committee had appointed a new Political Affairs Committee for Andhra Pradesh to strengthen the organisation at every level, and expressed confidence that many leaders who had left the party would return. “They are disillusioned with regional parties that have ignored internal democracy and freedom,” he said.
Photo caption: Congress Working Committee member and former PCC President Gidugu Rudra Raju