The largest US-based advocacy organisation of Indian American Muslims calls for audit of Election Commission data
Press Release
WASHINGTON DC — The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has expressed deep concern over reports of vote theft against the Election Commission of India (ECI) by leaders of the opposition Congress party, citing what they say is evidence of “widespread voter manipulation” in favour of the ruling far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the 2024 general elections.
IAMC is the largest US-based advocacy organisation of Indian American Muslims.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged over 100,000 manipulated entries in the voter list for a single suburb of Karnataka’s Bengaluru city, “including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations”. Gandhi further alleged that, based on these and other irregularities in the ECI’s election data, the Congress Party had lost at least 48 seats in the election.
“The scale and severity of these allegations strike at the very heart of India’s democracy. The Election Commission’s partisan conduct and failure to act on documented evidence of voter suppression, intimidation, and manipulation raises grave questions about its credibility. India’s citizens deserve answers,” IAMC President Mohammed Jawad said in a recent statement. “We call for a judicial, Supreme Court–monitored, and time-bound probe into these allegations, as well as a transparent audit of the Election Commission’s data. Anything less will be a betrayal of the democratic values India claims to uphold,” he said.
The allegations of vote theft were raised just weeks after the ECI carried out an unconstitutional directive, which mandated nearly 80 million voters in Bihar state to re-register by July 26 or risk being stripped of their right to vote and reported as “suspected foreign nationals.” The exercise places millions of people at risk of disenfranchisement, exclusion, and potential loss of citizenship and deportation.
Accusations of interference and voter suppression in BJP-ruled states were also widespread throughout the election in 2024, with Muslim voters in particular reporting being deleted off voter rolls, intimidated by BJP candidates when casting their votes, and even being threatened at gunpoint and beaten by police officers at or en route to polling stations. BJP candidates and elected officials alike, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, regularly broke the country’s law by engaging in hate speeches targeting Muslims and Christian minorities. In all cases, the ECI did nothing to intervene or hold perpetrators accountable, the statement pointed out.
