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Rahul Gandhi distances himself from ‘threat to life’ plea filed in Pune court, claims lawyer filed application without his consent, to be withdrawn

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi distances himself from ‘threat to life’ plea filed in Pune court, claims lawyer filed application without his consent, to be withdrawn

After Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi told a Pune court on Wednesday that he faces threat to life, the party’s IT cell chief Supriya Shrinate has claimed that the statement was filed by a lawyer without authorisation. She claimed that the written statement was submitted without Rahul Gandhi’s consent, and he strongly disagrees with this.

Supriya Shrinate added in a post on X that the lawyer will withdraw this written statement from the court tomorrow. She also enclosed a press release by Advocate Milind Dattaraya Pawar, saying that the Pursis (statement) was filed without instructions from the client.

The statement says, “The Pursis dated 13.08.2025 was filed by me in the Court without Instructions from the client. The contents of the Pursis were drafted by me without consulting my client Shri. Rahul Gandhi. My client has taken strong exception to filing of this Pursis dated 13.08.2025 and has expressed his disagreement with the contents of the Pursis. I shall file a formal application tomorrow for withdrawal of the said Pursis before the Hon’ble Court.”

The statement filed at a Pune court on behalf of Rahul Gandhi had claimed that he was facing threats to his life for his recent political battles and over his controversial comments against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The submission was made to the court hearing a defamation case against him over the Savarkar comment.

Referring Rahul Gandhi’s recent allegations against Election Commission of India, Lawyer Milind Pawar alleged, “two MPs from the BJP threatened Rahul Gandhi, telling him to ‘step aside’ and warning that in the future, he would meet the same fate as his grandmother. They also threatened him by calling him the biggest terrorist.”

The lawyer further said, “In this background, we felt that since this case is pending before this court for evidence, and given the entire genealogy in question and the fact that these are Savarkar’s followers – combined with the stand Rahul Gandhi has now taken – he could be betrayed or harmed.”

The lawyer on behalf of Rahul Gandhi also alleged that the complainant in the defamation case is a direct descendant of Nathuram Godse. He alleged that there is a “documented history of violence and anti-constitutional tendencies linked to the complainant’s lineage.”

The advocate added that the application was submitted to “record certain material facts and grave apprehensions directly connected to the safety of Rahul Gandhi and to the integrity of these proceedings.”

‘Sandeep, Ramji and Dilip people were tortured and killed to frame Sadhvi, Lt Col Purohit’: Ex-ATS officer blows lid off Malegaon Blast cover-up

OpIndia Staff
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‘Sandeep, Ramji and Dilip people were tortured and killed to frame Sadhvi, Lt Col Purohit’: Ex-ATS officer blows lid off Malegaon Blast cover-up

The NIA court acquitted 7 people, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and Major Ramesh Upadhyay in 2008 Malegaon blast case. Afterward, startling revelations came to the fore following the landmark verdict. Now, a similar disclosure has been made by Mehboob Mujawar, who participated in the investigation of the explosion, during a conversation with Dainik Bhaskar.

He stated, “ATS unlawfully arrested three persons linked to RSS. They were subjected to torture and subsequently killed but their status was misrepresented as absconding in official records.” The individuals are Sandeep Dange, Ramji Kalsangar and Dilip Patidar. Notably, Kalsangar became the focus of attention after the ruling. He has been missing for over the past 17 years, however, his wife continues to live as a married woman.

Mujawar asserted that after the killing, it was showcased as if they were all alive. Officers were dispatched to their residences for inquiry to substantiate this claim. This led the public to believe that the cops lacked information about them and the latter were evading capture. “The effort to present Sandeep, Ramji and Dilip as alive was orchestrated at the direction of (former Police Commissioner of Mumbai) Param Bir Singh. A scene was created to conceal the deaths of all three,” he outlined.

Mujawar, formerly associated with ATS, reiterated his statement regarding the conspiracy to trap Mohan Bhagwat in the case. He mentioned that one of the two tasks assigned to him was the instruction to arrest Mohan Bhagwat. According to him, the aim was to create a false narrative of “saffron terrorism.”

However, the former ATS officier refused to comply and pointed out that he did not possess the authority to apprehend a significant individual like Bhagwat without a valid reason. Consequently, he endured the fallout and Param Bir Singh implicated him in a bogus case, which led to the end of his 40 year police career.

Mujawar emphasised that the entire probe was conducted by a “bogus officer” which was founded on falsehoods. He remarked that the court’s decision has demonstrated that there was no “saffron terrorism” and it was entirely a fabrication.

“The authorities concocted the narrative of 600 kg RDX and attempted to associate Sadhvi Pragya and Colonel Purohit with it,” Mujawar further conveyed. He also referenced this in the affidavit he submitted in 2016 in relation to the ongoing case against him in Solapur Court.

West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee govt orders mandatory prime time Bengali movie screening in every cinema hall and every screen of multiplexes every day

Shraddha Pandey
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West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee govt orders mandatory prime time Bengali movie screening in every cinema hall and every screen of multiplexes every day

As the elections come near, the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal is whipping up the ‘Bengali pride’ to fetch political clout. In bid to burnish its pro-Bengali pride credentials, the CM Mamata Banerjee-led government has issued an order mandating 365-day screening of Bengali films in cinema halls and multiplexes. 

In order dated 13th August 2025, the West Bengal government stated that the screenings of Bengali films shall mandatorily be held throughout the year, with at least one Bengali show per day for all 365 days during the year. The order states that Bengali movies must be shown on every screen every day in multiplexes. If there are 4 screens in a multiplex, all four screens must show a Bengali movie every day during the prime time.

“In every Cinema hall, and in all screens (each screen) of every multiplex situated in this State, 365 prime time shows/screenings of Bengali films shall mandatorily be held throughout the year, with at least one Bengali show per day for all 365 days during the year. Explanation: Prime time shows shall mean shows held between 3:00 PM to 9.00 PM,” the order signed by Santanu Basu, the Principle Secretary to the West Bengal Government reads. 

As per the notification, the daily screening comes into effect immediately and will remain in force until further notice. The state government also added that necessary amendments will be made to the West Bengal Cinemas (Regulation of Public Exhibitions) Rules, 1956.

Notably, in a 2018 directive, the TMC government had ordered cinema halls to screen one Bengali film for a minimum of 120 days annually during prime time (noon to 9 PM). However, now the government has extended this for all 365 days during the year. 

While the TMC argues that this move will boost regional Bengali cinema by ensuring equitable showtimes for Bengali movies in theatres, it is economically unsustainable. In desperation to send out a political message, the TMC government is essentially is forcing theatres to dedicate screen time for Bengali films, regardless of audience demand or film availability. Even in 2018, theatre owners had raised concerns about financial losses in areas with limited Bengali-speaking audience. Now, this full year mandate poses a risk of stifling theatre owner’s flexibility, reducing viewership which would translate into financial losses. 

In addition, the Bengali film industry would also be overburdened to produce enough quality content to fill daily slots across the state. The modern audience looks for diverse content, while forcing screening of Bengali films on a daily basis could result in flooding of screens with subpar films. The West Bengal government is also working on setting up mini-cinemas to promote Bengali films. 

The timing of this move suggests that the TMC government is using all tactics at hand to bolster its ‘Bhasha Andolan’. On 12th August, TMC MPs gathered at Makar Dwar outside the Parliament to voice their opposition against the alleged insult to Bengal. Prominent among the demonstrators were TMC MPs, including Yusuf Pathan, a former cricketer and current MP for Murshidabad, alongside Jaya Bachchan from the Samajwadi Party (SP). 

They protested to highlight the importance of preserving and promoting the Bengali language within the national discourse. Last week on Wednesday, TMC MPs carried out a protest in the Parliament premises over the alleged insult to Bengal. They held placards that read “Stop Insulting Bengal”. They also held portraits of national icons from Bengal, including Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose. 

Trinamool Congress has been conducting protest marches in West Bengal against the alleged targeting of migrants in the BJP-ruled States. The first such marches were conducted across the State on 27th July, after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had called for protests every weekend until the next year’s Assembly polls at a Martyrs’ Day rally on 21st July. 

Mamata Banerjee had alleged that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) notices are being issued to legitimate Indian citizens simply because they are from her State. “It is deeply unfortunate that a deliberate, systematic attempt is now being made to criminalise our language. Questions are being raised on whether Bengali is even a language,” the Chief Minister said in a post on X. 

“Bengali-speakers are being hounded, hunted, and humiliated in BJP-ruled states. NRC notices are being issued to legitimate Indian citizens simply because they are from Bengal. They seem to have forgotten that without Bengali, there would be no National Anthem or National Song,” she said. Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Delhi Police of describing Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language”, calling it scandalous, anti-national and unconstitutional.

Earlier this month, Mamata Banerjee alleged that that Bengali-speaking citizens were being harassed and evicted from Jai Hind Colony in BJP-ruled Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, in the name of identifying and detaining illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. However, the Centre debunked CM Banerjee’s claim and informed TMC MP June Maliah in the Lok Sabha that no such eviction drive was undertaken by the Delhi government.

OpIndia reported recently, how the CM Banerjee has been training her guns against the BJP as BJP-ruled states, are witnessing action by the authorities against illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya inflitrators. From linking action against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to Bengali pride to ordering 365-days compulsory screening of Bengali films in theatres across the state, it seems that the TMC is using Bengali pride as a political tool by rallying cultural sentiment, portraying itself as the ‘defender’ of Bengali heritage and linguistic pride against the BJP. 

UP: Sharaf poses as Samrat to lure and rape a Hindu woman, extorts Rs 5 lakhs and forces her to convert

OpIndia Staff
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UP: Sharaf poses as Samrat to lure and rape a Hindu woman, extorts Rs 5 lakhs and forces her to convert

A young man from Chini village in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad lied about his faith and tricked a Hindu girl from the Sarnath police station area into marrying him. He also sexually assaulted her and extorted Rs 5 lakh from her. He even pressured her to embrace Islam. The accused has been identified as Mohammad Sharaf Rizvi. A case has been filed against him under charges of rape, fraud and Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, among others.

The victim stated in her complaint that she was looking for a partner on a matrimonial website, in July when the perpetrator reached out to her, introducing himself as Samrat Singh and initiated discussions regarding marriage. He finalised the union with her family members. On 13th July, he visited her flat in an enclave situated in Ashapuri where he sexually exploited her in the name of marriage.

Afterward, the offender also extracted Rs 5 lakh from her at the Canara Bank located at Ashapuri Chauraha, for alleged wedding preparations. He then took her to Lucknow where he took advantage of her, in multiple hotels. The girl mentioned that after several days she came to know about his real identity. Sharaf resides in front of the primary school in Chini Gram. When she confronted him, he began to force her into converting and marrying him. She also asked him to return her money but he threatened to murder her in response.

Vivek Tripathi, the officer in charge of the police station informed that a case has been filed on the girl’s complaint. Two teams have been established to apprehend the accused and raids have been conducted. The authorities are making every effort to arrest him and ensure that the complainant receives justice. This case not only pertains to fraud but also raises serious concerns regarding force to change one’s religion, which is troubling for society. The cops are actively investigating the situation and will take necessary action.

Sarnath police has registered a case under Section 69, 316 (2), 318 (4), 352, 351 (3) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3/5 (3) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021.

Rahul Gandhi cited voters with house number 0 as proof of “vote theft”, now several real voters with house number 0 on their voter IDs speak out: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi cited voters with house number 0 as proof of “vote theft”, now several real voters with house number 0 on their voter IDs speak out: Read details

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently levelled massive allegations on the integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the fairness of elections during a press conference in Delhi. Harping on his same old diatribe about the ECI acting in collusion with the BJP and rigging elections in favour of the ruling party, Gandhi presented some electoral data, which he claimed was collated during an “internal survey” of his party, to support his allegations.

The Congress scion presented the electoral rolls of Karnataka and alleged that a massive vote theft took place in the constituency because his party won fewer seats than expected. Gandhi displayed what he claimed were the electoral rolls of Mahadevapura in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central constituency, which the Congress lost to the BJP. He claimed that his party analysed the Mahadevapura electoral rolls over 6 months and found that of 1,00,250 alleged bogus voters, 40,009 had “fake and invalid addresses” and 10,452 were “bulk voters” registered at common addresses.

He pointed out voter entries with house numbers marked as ‘0’ and voters registered at the same house number to allege that the ECI had added fake voters in the voter list to rig elections in favour of the BJP.

Notably, some media reports later pointed out the same pattern in the electoral rolls of Rahul Gandhi’s own constituency, Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. The voter list there also has a large number of entries with “House Number 0” and even clusters of dozens of voters registered at the same address.

Why the ECI allots ‘0’ house numbers to voters

‘House Number 0’ and multiple voters registered at the same residential addresses are not fake votes, as claimed by the Leader of the Opposition. The Election Commission often assigns ‘House Number 0’ or ‘notional addresses’ to include voters without well-defined or permanent residential addresses, such as homeless people, those whose houses have no official numbering, or those who failed to enter their full addresses in electoral forms.

Similarly, multiple voters having the same residential addresses can be found in cases of joint families, shared housing or rented accommodations, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas.

Videos of several such voters have emerged, who have voter ID cards with House Number 0 mentioned in the address fields. These voters have explained that they are living in their places for 10-15 years, and have valid voters IDs. The voters said that as their houses were not numbers, ECI officials 0 in place of house number in their voter IDs. They also displayed their Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) mentioning house number 0 in the address field.

A woman in the video can be heard saying that she is being harassed for having house number 0 in their voter cards.

With a vast population comprising people who constantly migrate within the country for various reasons, mostly for job opportunities, maintaining fixed or standardised addresses poses a challenge for the authorities. The problem was highlighted by the Department of Posts in May this year in its policy document, wherein it proposed the creation of digital public infrastructure to standardise addresses. “Despite the centrality of address information in everyday life, frictions exist in how such data is managed, shared and used across India,” the policy document reportedly stated.

Speaking to The Indian Express, some current and former Election Commission officials said the that the in cases where voters lack proper addresses of leave the field blank, they are assigned “notional” addresses to ensure that they are not excluded from the electoral rolls. Election Commission instructions, which date back to 2011, reportedly direct the allocation of addresses in such a manner. These addresses are clearly marked as “notional” in the electoral roll. The instructions were followed in the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, as well as in the poll-bound states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana, in May 2023.

The officials further added that the practice of notional addresses, which arises from the ECI’s policy of inclusion, not exclusion, is followed across the country. Citing the example of homeless persons, the EC officials said that the guidelines instruct the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to verify the address given in Form 6 at night by checking on multiple occasions to confirm that the person sleeps at the given location. In such cases, if the address of a homeless person is verified in this manner, no documentary proof of residence is needed.

According to The Indian Express, a 2011 Election Commission instructed the BLOs that where house numbers have been assigned by the Municipality, those should be used as they also appear on Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) that double as address proof for other government schemes. However, where no official house numbers exist, BLOs are instructed to assign notional numbers to houses starting from 1 in each section. These notional numbers are computer-generated and do not mandatorily match the numbers allotted by the municipality. Oftentimes, municipalities allot ‘0’ as house numbers in illegal colonies to avoid conferring legal status.

Telugu Department Professor in Banaras Hindu University hires contract criminals through students to assault Head of the Dept, two accused arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Telugu Department Professor in Banaras Hindu University hires contract criminals through students to assault Head of the Dept, two accused arrested

Varanasi police on the night of Tuesday,12th August, arrested a contract killer involved in the brutal assault on Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Telugu Department head, Professor C.S. Ramachandra Murthy. The accused, identified as Pramod Kumar alias Ganesh Pasi, was shot in the leg during a brief encounter before being taken into custody.

Police said Pasi confessed to the attack on after being hired by another professor from the same department, Professor Budati Venkateswarlu, who is former Head of the Telugu Department. According to officials, the assailant revealed that the contract was given through a former research scholar from South India, who had personal ties to the professor.

An internal dispute sparked the attack

Investigations suggest the motive behind the attack stemmed from a heated dispute between Professor Murthy and Professor Venkateswarlu. Upset over certain matters, the former Head of Department decided to “teach him a lesson” and sought the help of two of his former research students from Telangana. He told the students, Bhaskar and Modgu Kasim Babu, that the current HoD was harassing him, and was not letting him work.

The former students then contacted an acquaintance named Mohammed Kasim in Prayagraj for the job. The three arrived at Varanasi on 25 July, and met with Ganesh Pasi, who engaged two other contract criminals to carry out the assault. The attackers were given a motorbike near the BHU campus to approach their target.

The brutal assault

On the evening of 28th July, as Prof. Murthy was heading home to Brij Enclave Colony from the campus around 6:30 p.m., the two assailants waited near the Birla Hostel crossing. Armed with steel rods, they brutally beat the professor, leaving him with multiple fractures in both arms. After the attack, they escaped via the highway.

Bystanders rushed the injured professor to BHU Trauma Centre, where he was treated. Following his complaint, police registered an FIR and formed three teams to track down the attackers.

The arrest and encounter

DCP Crime Saravanan T. said that during a late-night vehicle checking operation in the Nuaav area, police spotted Pasi. On seeing officers, he tried to flee through a different route. When police ordered him to stop, he fired at them with a locally made gun.

In retaliatory fire, a bullet struck Pasi’s leg, causing him to collapse. He was taken to BHU Trauma Centre for treatment and later formally arrested. Police recovered a pistol from his possession.

According to police, the original plan was to attack Prof. Murthy outside the university premises. However, after conducting reconnaissance, the attackers decided to strike inside the campus. The entire assault was orchestrated jointly by the former Head of the Department of Telugu, the former student, and the contract killer.

On the next day of the incident, 29th July, BHU professors held a protest at Singh Dwar (main gate), seeking arrest within the police station itself. The protest occupied the entry gate for a while, which resulted in a confrontation between the police and the protesters. The senior officers, including the ACP, managed to calm down the crowd, promising prompt action.

Pasi is currently in custody, and Bhaskar, one of the students who contacted the criminals, have been arrested. His Aadhaar card details were found from a hotel where they had stayed, and this led to his arrest. Police have also traced online financial transactions used in the crime. The officials stated they are attempting to arrest everyone implicated in the conspiracy.

The arrested persons have confessed that they were asked to attack the professor to intimidate him, and not to kill him.

A silent confession of losses? US dodges questions on number of F-16s downed during Operation Sindoor, deflects with “ask Pakistan” for answers

OpIndia Staff
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A silent confession of losses? US dodges questions on number of F-16s downed during Operation Sindoor, deflects with “ask Pakistan” for answers

The United States has refused to answer questions about whether Pakistan lost any of its F-16 fighter jets during Operation Sindoor the fierce 88-hour battle fought between India and Pakistan from 7th May to 10th May.

According to a report by NDTV, when it asked the US State Department about the matter, the reply was brief: “We refer you to the Government of Pakistan to discuss its F-16s.”

The US has detailed agreements with Pakistan about its F-16 fleet. Under these “end-use” agreements, US contractors called Technical Support Teams (TSTs) are stationed in Pakistan round the clock. Their job is to track and monitor the use of Pakistan’s American-built F-16s at all times. This arrangement ensures the US always knows exactly how many jets are operational, where they are, and what condition they are in.

This latest US response stands in contrast to what American officials had said in 2019. Back then, shortly after India’s airstrikes on Balakot, Foreign Policy magazine quoted two senior US defence officials saying that they had counted all of Pakistan’s F-16s and found none missing contradicting India’s claim that it had shot one down.

Now, three months after Operation Sindoor, Indian authorities believe the situation is different. According to Indian assessments, the Pakistan Air Force lost several F-16s during the fighting either destroyed on the ground in Indian Air Force (IAF) strikes or shot down in aerial combat.

On Saturday, 9th August, in a significant claim three months after the end of hostilities in May, the Indian Air Force chief said, ”Shahbaz Jacobabad airfield (was) one of the major airfields that was attacked. Here, there’s an F-16 hangar.” He added, “One half of the hangar is gone. And I’m sure there were some aircraft inside which have got damaged there.”

While talking about the IAF ground strikes, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said, “Three hangars that we attacked: Sukkur – UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] hangar, the Bholari hangar of the AEW&C [Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft] and Jacobabad – the F-16 hangar. We have an indication of at least one AEW&C in that AEW&C hangar and a few F-16s, which were under maintenance.”

The IAF also claims it shot down six Pakistani aircraft during the battle: five fighters and one larger aircraft, which could have been either an electronic intelligence (ELINT) or AEW&C aircraft. However, the Air Chief did not name the exact fighter types destroyed.

Pakistan has strongly rejected these claims. Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif challenged India to allow an independent verification of both countries’ aircraft inventories. “If the truth is in question, let both sides open their aircraft inventories to independent verification though we suspect this would lay bare the reality India seeks to obscure,” he said.

This is not the first time the US has stayed quiet on the issue. Earlier, NDTV had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the US Department of Defence with the same set of questions. The reply was that FOIA does not require US agencies to compile new information or answer direct questions, it only obliges them to release existing records. Later queries to the Pentagon and to the Office of the US Secretary of Defence’s Public Affairs division also went unanswered.

For now, the exact number of F-16s Pakistan may have lost, if any, during Operation Sindoor remains unconfirmed. The US, despite having teams in Pakistan monitoring the jets 24/7, is staying officially silent, and both India and Pakistan are sticking to their own versions of events.

‘Aadhaar not proof of citizenship, SIR in Bihar to continue’: SC affirms EC’s power to revise voter rolls, rejects mass disenfranchisement claim

OpIndia Staff
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‘Aadhaar not proof of citizenship, SIR in Bihar to continue’: SC affirms EC’s power to revise voter rolls, rejects mass disenfranchisement claim

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (12th August) agreed with the Election Commission of India (ECI) in holding that the Aadhaar Card is not conclusive proof of citizenship. The observation was made by a bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi during the hearing of a batch of petitions filed against the ECI’s June 24 directive of holding a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of upcoming State assembly elections. The top court also acknowledged that the ECI is empowered to include or exclude citizens and non-citizens from the voter list.

SC terms petitioners’ challenge to SIR as a case of trust deficiency

The Court did not accept the submission of the petitioners, who claimed that the SIR in Bihar would result in disenfranchisement of lakhs of voters, as they are poor and do not have the necessary documents. “This is a case of trust deficiency that’s all,” Justice Kant stated during the hearing. Terming the petitioners’ claims as a ‘sweeping argument’, the bench said, “But something will be needed to see whether they are resident or not. There are family registers, pension cards, etc, a very sweeping argument to say that people do not have these documents”.

The court addressed the apprehensions of the petitioners that the SIR exercise could result in people being declared invalid based on a presumption, and assured that it will take care of that. “If they do so, we will adjudicate the same…Are we going to explain to everyone that if we find something suspicious, can’t we include all of them in the 2025 list…into the roll?” Justice Kant said.

ECI assures fair procedure during SIR

The Supreme Court sought the response of the ECI on 6th August after it was informed that around 65 lakh fake or duplicate names had been excluded from the voter list during the SIR in Bihar. A plea was moved in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disclose details of 65 lakh names that have been deleted from electoral rolls. Responding to the plea, the ECI assured the court that no name will be removed from the draft electoral roll in Bihar without prior notice, an opportunity to be heard and a reasoned order from the competent authority.

The court also rejected the petitioners’ claim that the SIR would result in the mass exclusion of voters. Mass exclusion will depend on facts and figures,” the bench said.

Several opposition leaders and organisation challeneged the SIR

The petitioners, including several opposition leaders and organisations like TMC MP Mahua Moitra, former AAP co-founder Yogendra Yadav, RJD MP Manoj Jha, and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), were represented by the likes of senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan, and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Several petitions were filed before the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the SIR exercise in Bihar on the grounds that the identification process laid down by the ECI shifted the burden of proof onto citizens and that, considering the high rates of migration and poverty in the state, the requirement of documents specified by the ECI might disenfranchise millions of voters. The petitioners also challenged the exclusion of the Aadhaar card from the ECI’s list of documents required as proof of citizenship to be enumerated as a voter. However, the Supreme Court had refused to put a stay on the exercise, saying that it was a routine exercise, which the Election Commission is competent to conduct.

Will Rahul Gandhi follow Khaleda Zia’s playbook and boycott all upcoming elections as he ramps up attack against ECI and hopes for a regime change to grab power?

Shraddha Pandey
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Will Rahul Gandhi follow Khaleda Zia’s playbook and boycott all upcoming elections as he ramps up attack against ECI and hopes for a regime change to grab power?

When one can’t win a competition, blame the game, the referee, the opponent, and concoct an outrage so strong that covers up their own incompetence and posits them a forced-to-lose ‘Hero’. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent escalation of attacks on the Election Commission of India suggests that the Gandhi scion is trying hard to pull off this gimmick. While the opposition has been selectively outraging over election results in the recent past and gladly accepting the same when it wins, the timing of Rahul Gandhi’s fresh ‘vote chori’ bogey, raises the question: Is Rahul Gandhi planning to go the Khaleda Zia way?

Joined by the opposition parties, Congress prince Rahul Gandhi has been levelling unfounded allegations about the EVMs, VVPATs, electoral roll, fake voters and whatnot to establish a false narrative that the ECI is colluding with the Bhartiya Janata Party to manipulate voter lists and rig elections. 

As Rahul Gandhi continued his full of hollow rhetoric and theatrics, devoid of evidence attacks on the Election Commission, the poll body issued a strong statement calling his allegations “baseless” and demanded that Gandhi either substantiate his allegations with evidence under oath or apologise. On 11th August, the I.N.D.I. Alliance marched to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) New Delhi headquarters, protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Bihar electoral registers and at the same time claiming ‘vote chori’ and voter list discrepancies. They claimed that the drive would result in disenfranchisement and charged that was an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led-government to steal votes. 

The Bihar SIR exercise program has revealed a significant number of fraudulent voters in Bihar. It uncovered around 65 lakh non-existent voters who were then purged from the electoral rolls. The names that have been deleted are mostly those of people who have passed away or who were not found at their registered addresses. The opposition in the state has been mobilizing since the initiative was announced. A significant number of these counterfeit voters are their supporters. 

Now, a similar drive is set to occur in West Bengal which has alarmed the All India Trinamool Congress and its supremo, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has been an outspoken advocate for Bangladeshi infiltrators. The IIM researchers who had warned about around 70 lakh fake voters in Bihar, an estimate that was found nearly correct, have now in another study highlighted that around 1 crore excess voters in may be existing in the electoral roll for West Bengal in 2024. 

While the general public rejected Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ narrative following the Maharashtra assembly elections and ‘EVM hacking, VVPAT tampering’ claims after the Lok Sabha elections, the Gandhi scion renewed his attacks on ECI after the alarming results of SIR in Bihar exposed the presence of thousands of lakhs of voters in the electoral roll. Now that the ECI plans to conduct SIR in every state, the opposition is fuming. 

Mahadevpura voter fraud claims found to be baseless

Rahul Gandhi made special mention of Karnataka’s Mahadevpura constituency to allege electoral fraud saying that several voter entries in the voter list had “house number 0” and that numerous voters were listed at the same address during a press conference on 7th August. However, the ECI debunked his claims. Gandhi claimed that 80 fake voters were registered at one house in Mahadevpura, but it turned out that they were not fraudulent but migrant voters. 

The Gandhi scion’s attacks on the ECI have though failed to stir outrage among common Indian voters, have found audience in the leftist foreign media. As OpIndia reported earlier, New York Times, Al Jazeera, and others have amplified Rahul Gandhi’s bogus ‘vote chori’ claim, apparently, to discredit India’s democratic institutions.  

The foreign and Indian leftist media is amplifying Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ lies, the Congress leader refuses to submit formal complaints or affidavits, aruging that his parliamentary oath suffices as evidence of truthfulness. However, this refusal confirms that Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against supposed ‘vote chori’ is more about public spectacle than legal recourse.

The opposition seems to be following the strategy of keeping the issue alive in public domain while avoiding engagement in procedural battles since their lies would get exposed, as happened in the Supreme Court recently and earlier during EVM hacking allegations, diluting the impact of their manufactured outrage. 

Is Rahul Gandhi laying ground for boycott of elections as BNP leader Khaleda Zia did in Bangladesh?

The Congress party’s unannounced forever PM aspirant, has also threatened the ECI of ‘consequences’. This is alarming. This is more than just political theatrics, attempt at deflecting from Congress’s electoral failures, or a gimmick meant for immediate electoral gains. Is Rahul Gandhi sowing long-term distrust in India’s democratic institutions? Is the Congress leader, joined by the anti-BJP parties, laying the groundwork for a more radical and destructive political manoeuvre, an election boycott? Is Rahul Gandhi planning to replicate the Khaleda Zia playbook?

It is notable that in Bangladesh, Khaleda Zia, the leader of the anti-Hindu Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a direct opponent of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League and India detractor, boycotted the 2014, 2018 and 2023 elections claiming that free and fair elections cannot take place under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s watch. Massive protests were taken out, violence and chaos erupted in 2023. In 2018, several people lost their lives in violent protests and in 2014 elections, the Hindu minorities were attacked and killed by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami members. 

There is no doubt that India’s political landscape is different from Bangladesh. India is home to one of the most robust democracies in the world. The Election Commission here enjoys large public trust. The ECI has a history of competitive elections. Time and again, the Supreme Court while hearing petitions moved by pro-Congress ‘activists’ and self-declared ‘defenders of democracy’, has backed the ECI against allegations of fraud and conspiracies to favour the BJP. 

However, the apprehensions are not unfounded that the opposition, especially Rahul Gandhi, might try to pull a Khaleda Zia playbook: sow distrust in public’s mind against electoral process, boycott the elections, incite violent protests and oust the demoratically elected leader, to become the sole runner in the race of power and come first. 

OpIndia has reported many a times how Rahul Gandhi during his foreign trips has been seeking foreign intervention in India’s internal affairs, levelling ‘Democracy khatre mein hai’ allegations, casting aspersions on the integrity of the ECI while on foreign soil. From seeking foreign interference to relying on dubious foreign reports to attack Indian businessmen like Gautam Adani, eulogising China to even recently parroting US President Donald Trump’s ‘India’s a dead economy’ jibe. It seems that a colour revolution may be on the cards. 

Amidst Trump’s tariff war against India for buying Russian oil and the Modi government’s strong refusal to open India’s agriculture and dairy markets for the US, PM Modi had recently said that he is ready to pay a “personal price” for protecting the interests of Indian farmers. Although he made no explicit mention of a regime change conspiracy at play, however, speculations are rife that the US, given it has a history of orchestrating regime change in countries where its economic or strategic interests are challenged, might attempt the same strategy to oust Modi and install its puppet in New Delhi. A potential attempt at this cannot be overlooked as, the case of Bangladesh is front of the world. 

Months after Sheikh Hasina alleged that the US is conspiring to oust her from Prime Minister’s post and fanning anti-government protests, she was forced to quit and flee the country. After days of chaos, anti-Hindu violence, targeted killings of Awami League leaders, and a political vaccum, a pro-US Muhammad Yunus became the leader of the interim government. Now, elections are set to be held in Bangladesh in early 2026. With Awami League nearly erased, its backbone broken, offices abandoned, leaders killed, Khaleda Zia’s BNP and supportive Jamaat-e-Islami are set to grab power unopposed. 

With state elections looming in Bihar, West Bengal in the coming times, it remains to be seen if Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chori’ allegations and anti-ECI campaign is only to keep the BJP on defensive, or a groundwork towards unfolding of a broader playbook of boycotting elections, stirring violent protests, and orchestrating a regime change. Eventually, after a phase of violence and uncertainty, just as Khaleda Zia removed her competition, Sheikh Hasina, from the race and is now set to run alone and come first, is Rahul Gandhi trying to do the same?

Uttar Pradesh: Court orders police to file FIR against Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh and his associate in connection with a land dispute case

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Court orders police to file FIR against Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh and his associate in connection with a land dispute case

A court in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, ordered the UP police on Monday (11th August) to register an FIR against Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh and his associate Rajesh Singh in connection with an alleged land dispute.

As per reports, the order was passed by Special Judge of the MP-MLA Court (Civil Judge, Senior Division) Apeksha Singh. The judge directed the Mankapur police station to lodge an FIR against Kirti Vardhan Singh, Rajesh Singh, Pinku Singh, Sahdev Yadav and Kanti Singh.

The order came after complainant, Ajay Singh, a resident of Bhitoura in the Mankapur area, approached the court under Section 173(4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, to initiate legal proceedings against the minister and others. In his complaint, Singh reportedly alleged that land registered in the name of his wife, Manisha Singh, was fraudulently transferred in favour of Mithlesh Rastogi and Kanti Singh by influencing and luring the original seller, Bitten Devi, into executing a backdated sale deed using a three-year-old stamp paper.

He further alleged that an inquiry ordered by the superintendent of police based on his complaint confirmed his allegations. A case was reportedly registered in 2024 on the instructions of the superintendent of police against the seller and the buyers, but a final report was filed closing the case.

Ajay Singh said that he objected to the closure of the case in March 2025, after which the court set aside the final report of the police and ordered further investigation, which is still underway. According to Singh, in the meantime, Rajesh Singh lodged a false case against him and his wife in 2024. He accused Rajesh Singh of misusing his political influence to harass him and his wife.

As per the allegations, Rajesh Singh got a case filed against Ajay Singh and his wife under the provisions of the SC ST Act and the BNS through his driver Rinku Singh to force them to settle the case.

Ajay Singh alleged that the accused had been threatening to kill him and his family if he did not agree to settle the case. He claimed that no action was taken by the police against the accused despite his repeated complaints, which is why he approached the court.

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