Why does the opposition protest against the India electoral commission?

A political row broke out in India for allegations of “voting theft”, with opposition parties accusing the electoral body of the country’s irregularities, which, according to them, favored the general elections of Bharatiya Janata in power during the general elections of 2024.

Tuesday, Parliament was postponed after opposition deputies demanded a debate on the integrity of India’s electoral process.

One day earlier, dozens of opposition leaders, including the leader of the Rahul Gandhi Congress party, were briefly detained by the Police of the Capital Delhi, while they were trying to walk to the Indian Siege Electoral Commission (ECI).

Gandhi raised the issue for the first time at a press conference on August 7 in Delhi and has since succeeded in galvanizing a strong support for hundreds of opposition legislators.

The electoral commission and the BJP aggressively rejected the allegations.

Gandhi allegedly allegedly manipulated voters during the legislative elections in 2024, citing granular data obtained from the electoral body itself – although the ECI and the power party dispute its interpretation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi obtained a third historic term in the elections, but his alliance led by the BJP was not predicted by majority. Electoral participation on average 66% in the largest election in the world, with nearly a billion registered voters – one in eight on earth.

Gandhi cited the electoral data of Mahadevapura, part of the central parliamentary district of Bangalore, and said that the list of voters had more than 100,000 manipulated admissions, including double voters, non -valid addresses and loose recordings of votes on simple locations.

He presented examples of voters like Shakun Rani, who, according to him, voted twice – a complaint disputed by the electoral body.

Gandhi also alleged that video surveillance images of the polling stations have been deleted and underlined an example of 80 people registered in a single address in Mahadevapura.

The leader of the Congress says that his party has lost at least 48 seats in the elections due to these irregularities and accused the electoral body of India of not having applied the principle “a man, a vote”. The congress won 99 of the 543 seats in the elections, behind the 240 of the BJP.

Gandhi demanded that the ECI release the rollers of digital voters, so that they can be checked by its party and the public.

The BBC did not independently verify Gandhi’s claims.

Shortly after Gandhi’s press conference, ECI responded to the X social media platform, qualifying its allegations “absurd” and denying many of its claims.

The survey organization demanded that it subject a declaration signed under oath or apologize to the nation.

The unity of the state of Karnataka of ECI also declared that the Congress had not filed official objections when the electoral role was revised before the legislative elections of 2024.

The ballot body said earlier that it kept video surveillance only for 45 days after the results – the window for the filing of electoral disputes.

BJP leaders have also strongly refuted allegations.

“This anarchy is extremely worrying and dangerous for democracy,” said Dharmendra Pradhan, head of the BJP.

The Federal Minister of Agriculture, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, said that Gandhi and the opposition alliance “defamed democracy, tore it into tatters and altered the dignity of constitutional institutions”.

Gandhi’s allegations have led to a tumult when they arrive in the context of a controversy over a one -month revision of electoral roles in the state of Bihar, where the main elections are scheduled for November.

The special intensive revision (SIR), held between June and July, saw managers visit the 78.9 million state voters for verification – the first update since 2003.

The ECI says that the target reader of duplicate and deceased voters, but criticism say that its haste has deprived many people, especially migrants and minorities.

Many Bihar voters told BBC that project rolls had bad photos and include dead.

The Supreme Court of India is currently hearing a lot of petitions contesting the SIR, the petitioners demanding the publication of the deleted names – around 6.5 million – with reasons for their withdrawal.

The electoral body indicates that the cuts include 2.2 million deaths, 700,000 registered more than once and 3.6 million that have migrated from the state.

The corrections are open until September 1, with more than 165,000 requests received. A similar examination will be carried out nationally to check nearly a billion voters.

The court declared that allegations of privilege “seem to largely be a case of deficit in trust, nothing else” and that it “would immediately intervene” if the massive exclusion of voters was proven.

On August 12, Gandhi intensified his voting flight claims, saying that such manipulation occurred “at the national level and systematically”.

Stressing the case of a 124 -year -old voter name found in the Bihar electoral list project, he said: “There are unlimited cases like that. ‘Abhi picture Baki Hai’ (the story is not yet finished).”