Chandigarh: Punjab Youth Congress President Mohit Mohindra today announced a statewide ‘Voter Verification’ Campaign to expose and fight the menace of rising voter fraud in the state. The announcement was made at the Congress Bhawan in Chandigarh in the presence of Punjab Youth Congress in-charge Dr. Smruti Ranjan Lenka and other senior leaders.
In a powerful and unique opening, members of the Youth Congress distributed media kits to journalists present at the event. Each kit carried a name chit marked “Someone.” As the room buzzed with confusion, *Mohit Mohindra explained, “This is the real issue today — our identity, our democracy, and our right to vote. If our names can be replaced, if our votes can be stolen, then what remains of our democracy?”*
Right at the onset, Punjab Youth Congress president Mohit Mohindra emphasised the critical role of the Election Commission in upholding democracy and raised serious concerns about the recent appointment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Mohit Mohindra pointed out that the Supreme Court, in its order dated March 2, 2023, had mandated that the CEC be appointed by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India. However, the Modi Government bypassed this by introducing a new law that replaced the Chief Justice with a Union Cabinet Minister — in this case, the Home Minister himself, Amit Shah. “On February 17, 2025, the panel met. The Prime Minister and the Home Minister pushed through the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar, completely ignoring the dissent note from the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. And within 48 hours, the appointment was made official. If the referee is chosen by the player, what chance does democracy have?” Mohindra asked.
He then gave references of two detailed press conferences held by Rahul Gandhi recently, where the Congress leader exposed the scale of 'Vote Chori'. On August 7, Rahul Gandhi exposed how over one lakh fake votes were cast in Mahadevpura assembly segment - a key factor in the BJP’s narrow win in the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat in 2024. The categories of fraud included duplicate votes, fake addresses, multiple voters at single addresses, mismatched photographs, and misuse of Form 6. “Strange names, non-existent house numbers, and fraudulent photos. All this is not democracy. This is daylight robbery of your sacred vote,” Mohindra said.
He also cited Rahul Gandhi’s September 18 press conference where the Congress leader provided concrete evidence of how voter deletions were taking place by a central software system. This time, he presented the case study from Karnataka’s Aland constituency. Over 6,000 names were deleted. Some of the deletions happened back to back in just 36 seconds at 4 AM!
In fact, only after this expose by Rahul Gandhi was the Election Commission forced to hurriedly introduce e-verification for roll changes. Mohit emphasised, “Until Rahul Gandhi’s intervention, there was zero verification. Anyone could log in, punch in an EPIC number, and delete or modify entries — no checks, no accountability. If this doesn’t prove the allegations, what does?”
*Mohit then revealed how the Punjab Youth Congress had taken this fight forward by conducting a focused review of electoral rolls in two constituencies — Jalandhar Cantt and Ferozepur Rural. The findings of which were disturbing.*
Numerous fake entries, house addresses listed as ‘0’, fabricated names, and age discrepancies that raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the data. *Mohit confirmed, “We are not speculating. We are presenting evidence. We conducted this exercise in just 2 areas and came across so much evidence, just imagine the scale of this ‘chori’ across the state. Elections in Punjab are in 2027 and I plead to the media to help us inform the citizens in a direct bid to save our democracy.”*
*To counter this systematic fraud, Mohit Mohindra announced the launch of a state-wide Voter Verification Drive, to be led entirely by Youth Congress teams. The aim of this campaign is to identify irregularities, raise awareness, and involve the media and public in safeguarding democratic processes. “This is not just a political campaign — it’s a civic duty,” he said.*
Concluding the press conference, Mohit Mohindra made a passionate appeal, “Here in Punjab, we know the cost of freedom. We’ve shed blood for our right to vote. Today, that sacred right is under assault. This isn’t just about an election. It’s about saving our democracy. This isn’t just the Congress Party’s fight ~ this is every Indian’s fight. For our identity, our voice, our vote. And we will not let anyone snatch it from us.”
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