Siddaramaiah backs Rahul Gandhi’s claims of nationwide 'voter fraud', demands PM Modi’s resignation
Bengaluru, Aug 7 (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had exposed, with evidence, widespread voter fraud during the recent Lok Sabha elections and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resignation.
In a post on 'X', Siddaramaiah said the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has exposed with hard evidence how widespread vote theft took place across India in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Despite massive public anger, Modi returned to power only through electoral fraud. The documents released by Rahul Gandhi today stand as clear proof, he added.
“Narendra Modi became Prime Minister by misusing the Election Commission, stealing votes, and abusing power. He has no moral right to stay in office. He must resign and dissolve the government immediately,” Siddaramaiah demanded.
He vowed that the Congress would raise its voice across the country and expose the BJP’s crimes to every citizen.
Giving an example from Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said a six-month investigation was conducted into voter records in Mahadevapura Assembly segment, which falls under the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency.
“Under the guidance of Shri Rahul Gandhi, a detailed six-month investigation was conducted into the voter records of Mahadevapura Assembly segment, which falls under the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. The probe uncovered precise evidence of systematic vote theft,” he said.
“In the 2024 Lok Sabha Election, the BJP misused the Election Commission and illegally secured 1,00,250 votes in Mahadevapura — a constituency with just around 3.25 lakh voters — to win the seat,” Siddaramaiah said. He said five methods of electoral malpractice were identified in just this one segment.
“A total of 11,965 fake voters are estimated to have cast votes in this constituency. Some individuals voted in multiple polling booths, while others voted not only here but also in other parts of the state and even outside Karnataka. This points to a systematic and deliberate misuse of the electoral process,” Siddaramaiah charged.
He added that 40,009 voters were found with fake addresses.
The Chief Minister said, “Thousands of them are registered under non-existent addresses, including many with ‘House Number 0’, random gibberish entered in place of father’s or husband’s names, and addresses that simply do not exist.”
According to him, 10,452 voters were registered under a handful of addresses.
“In one instance, 80 voter ID cards were issued using the address of a single-bedroom house. In another case, 68 voter IDs listed the address of a private club. Upon verification, it was confirmed that none of the listed voters actually reside there.”
Siddaramaiah said 4,132 voter ID cards in the constituency had missing or unclear photographs, yet those individuals were allowed to vote.
He also pointed out that “33,692 voters aged between 60 and 90 years were found to have been registered as first-time voters through Form 6. The BJP often claims that new voters support Narendra Modi, but the reality is startling — even individuals aged 89 and 98 have allegedly voted for the first time.”
Siddaramaiah said that had the Election Commission acted impartially and provided the electronic data and CCTV footage that Rahul Gandhi requested, this scam could have been exposed within days of the election.
“Instead, the Commission deliberately altered its own rules to suppress information and cover up the truth. This is not a scam limited to Mahadevapura alone — it is now clear that the BJP has used similar vote theft tactics across the country to cling to power,” he said.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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