In a dramatic escalation of the political storm over alleged manipulation of electoral rolls in Haryana, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday threw his full weight behind Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’sexplosive allegations of widespread voter fraud. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the senior Congress leader asserted that the results of the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections did not reflect the actual will of the people, claiming instead that the mandate had been “stolen.”

Hooda, a towering figure in Haryana politics and one of the state’s most influential Congress leaders, said it was evident from the very beginning that something was deeply amiss in the electoral process. “From day one, there was talk everywhere in Haryana that public opinion had been suppressed,” he said. “This election was not just about vote theft. The reality is that the Haryana government was stolen.”

According to Hooda, this conclusion was not speculative. He insisted that Rahul Gandhi had provided “complete evidence” detailing the scale and nature of the alleged manipulation. “Today Rahul Gandhi explained in detail how many votes were cast, what happened, and how the voter lists were tampered with. The voice of the people was suppressed, and the result was manufactured,” he alleged.

A major point of contention raised by both leaders is the stark mismatch between the 2024 exit polls and the final results. Hooda noted that no reputed exit poll gave the BJP more than 29 seats—far short of a majority—while the Congress was projected to win comfortably. “The obvious does not need proof,” Hooda said. “Just look at the last three or four Assembly elections in Haryana. Whoever wins the postal ballots forms the government. But this time, the results defied every trend and every prediction.”

Rahul Gandhi, during his earlier press conference, had levelled a sensational claim that the Congress had incontrovertible evidence revealing that 25 lakh voters on the Haryana rolls were either fake, duplicated, or non-existent. According to Gandhi, this amounts to one in every eight voters, equivalent to 12.5 per cent of the electorate—a scale he described as proof of a deliberate, coordinated attempt to influence the election outcome.

Gandhi highlighted specific examples to support his allegations. He claimed that a woman, whose stock image turned out to belong to a Brazilian model, had “voted” 22 times across multiple booths using different names. “Who is this lady?” he asked. “She votes in ten different booths with multiple identities. This is not one stray case; this is part of a centralised operation. This one photograph is among 25 lakh such manipulated records.”

Gandhi insisted that the Congress lost the Haryana election “by only 22,000 votes,” and that the suspected scale of voter-list manipulation far exceeded that margin. “We have crystal clear proof,” he reiterated. “This election was stolen from the people of Haryana.”

The allegations have sent shockwaves through the state’s political landscape. If substantiated, the scale of irregularities being suggested—25 lakh questionable entries—would constitute one of the most serious electoral breaches in independent India. The Congress has demanded an independent investigation and indicated that it intends to challenge the election results in court.

The state’s election authorities, however, have pushed back. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Haryana responded to Gandhi’s claims by asking him to submit a sworn affidavit supporting his allegations. Legally, challenges to election results must be filed as election petitions before the High Court, and officials have reminded the Congress of this procedural requirement. They have also hinted that unverified claims made publicly without formal submission may attract legal scrutiny.

The BJP has meanwhile dismissed the allegations as a desperate attempt by the Congress to explain its electoral loss. Party leaders argue that the election was conducted under the full supervision of the Election Commission of India and that all voter roll revisions followed established procedures. However, the Congress claims that the scale of duplication and manipulation goes far beyond anything that could be attributed to clerical error or routine discrepancies.

Hooda’s public endorsement of Rahul Gandhi’s claims adds considerable weight to the controversy. As a former Chief Minister with decades of experience in Haryana’s politics, Hooda commands significant credibility within the state. His decision to openly describe the Haryana government as “stolen” reflects the Congress’s strategy to elevate the issue from a technical dispute to a fundamental question of democratic integrity.

He also placed the matter within a broader political context, pointing out that the pattern of exit polls and actual results has raised suspicion among voters and political observers alike. “The exit polls were unanimous,” Hooda said. “The BJP was nowhere close to a majority. The Congress was headed for a landslide. When results suddenly reverse every indicator, the people naturally begin asking questions.”

Within the Congress, the allegations have galvanised support for a statewide mobilisation demanding accountability from the Election Commission and the ruling state government. Party insiders suggest that the leadership plans to launch legal as well as public campaigns, aiming both to challenge the election results and to raise the issue nationally as an example of alleged democratic subversion.

The matter is expected to become more politically charged in the coming weeks, especially as Rahul Gandhi and other top Congress leaders prepare for additional public engagements. Analysts note that the Congress’s aggressive stance on the Haryana issue is consistent with its broader strategy of challenging the credibility of electoral institutions at a time when revisions to voter lists are underway across multiple states under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) project.

For now, the political temperature continues to rise in Haryana, with both sides positioning themselves for a prolonged confrontation. The Congress insists it has enough material proof to justify judicial intervention, while the BJP maintains that the accusations are baseless. The Election Commission has begun gathering material related to Gandhi’s claims, but the larger battle is likely to shift to the courts.

What remains clear is that the controversy over the Haryana voter rolls has evolved from a political accusation into a debate over the integrity of democratic processes. With a senior former Chief Minister now publicly declaring that the government was “stolen,” the stakes have risen sharply—not only for Haryana, but for the national narrative surrounding India’s electoral systems.