n a dramatic disclosure that stirred intense political debate, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday released what he called “The H Files”—a dossier alleging large-scale voter fraud in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections.
Opening a 45-minute press conference at the AICC headquarters, Gandhi claimed that a Brazilian model’s photograph was used repeatedly to create multiple voter identities under different Indian names, enabling the same face to appear 22 times across 10 polling booths.
Holding up enlarged voter roll pages, Gandhi pointed to entries listed under names such as “Seema,” “Sweety,” “Saraswati,” “Rashmi,” and “Vimla.”
“This is the same face, registered again and again,” he said. “How many times did this person vote? The Election Commission must answer.”
Gandhi said the alleged fraud was not isolated but part of a “centralized operation” carried out with the support of the ruling party and a compromised Election Commission of India (ECI). The timing of the disclosure—one day before the first phase of the Bihar Assembly polls—raised the political stakes significantly, with Gandhi describing the elections as a “referendum on democracy.”
LIVE: Special press briefing by LoP Shri @RahulGandhi | Vote Chori – The H Files | AICC HQ, New Delhi. https://t.co/at2SahEnBt
— Congress (@INCIndia) November 5, 2025
Breakdown of Allegations Presented
| Category of Fraud | Number Affected | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Total Votes Allegedly Compromised | 25,41,144 (≈12.5% of electorate) | Gandhi says this figure was enough to overturn the election outcome. |
| Duplicate Voters | 5,21,619 | Repeated entries under different voter IDs; one individual appeared 223 times across just two booths. |
| Invalid / Non-Existent Addresses | 93,174 | Voters registered at addresses that do not exist or are shared by dozens of unrelated persons. |
| Bulk Additions | 19,26,000 | Large blocks of new voters allegedly added without verification. |
| Postal Ballots | Scale unspecified | Gandhi claimed postal ballot trends diverged “unnaturally” in favour of the ruling party. |
“This is not booth-level rigging. This is state-level theft carried out using automated software,” Gandhi said, claiming similar patterns in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
He also alleged that requests for machine-readable voter rolls and CCTV footage from strong rooms were repeatedly denied, despite multiple reminders from investigating authorities.
Criticism of ECI and Broader Concerns
Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “shielding those who are dismantling democracy.”
He linked the alleged fraud to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, which he claimed has resulted in “selective deletions” among poor and opposition-leaning households.
He described the alleged vote theft as a “theft of future” for young voters, urging first-time voters to treat the Bihar election as a decisive test of democratic accountability.
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Response and Political Reactions
The Election Commission responded during the press conference, stating that no formal appeals against the Haryana electoral rolls were filed and asked Gandhi to submit affidavits supporting his claims within seven days.
The BJP dismissed the allegations as political theatrics, while several Opposition leaders supported Gandhi, asserting that similar patterns had been observed in other states.
Social Media and Public Engagement
The press conference was live-streamed and drew over half a million concurrent viewers.
Hashtags such as #VoteChori, #HFiles, and #BrazilianModel trended across platforms, with both supportive outrage and mockery visible in public reaction.
Gandhi announced that the full voter roll dataset used in the presentation would be released publicly on November 7, along with supporting documents and sworn statements.
“The truth is out. Now the country must decide who speaks for democracy,” he said, concluding the briefing.
