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Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused previous Nehru-Gandhi regimes of engaging in electoral theft, calling them “generational vote ‘chor'”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in the Lok Sabha during the winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi on December 10, 2025. (Image: Sansad TV/PTI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi clashed over ‘vote chori’ and electoral reforms, such as the ongoing pan-India special intensive revision exercise, in Parliament on Wednesday.
The ongoing winter session descended into fiery debate when Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi sparred over allegations of ‘vote chori’. Shah retaliated against Gandhi’s allegations of voter fraud by accusing previous Nehru-Gandhi regimes of engaging in electoral theft, calling them “generational vote chor“.
“I would like to tell you about 3 incidents of voter chori. First, after independence, the PM of the country was to be elected…Sardar Patel got 28 votes and Jawaharlal Nehru got 2 votes. But Jawaharlal Nehru became the Prime Minister…” Shah told the Lok Sabha, directly accusing India’s first prime minister of vote theft.
Watch the video here:
#WATCH | Speaking on electoral reforms, in Lok Sabha, Union HM Amit Shah says, “I would like to tell you about 3 incidents of voter chori. First, after independence, the PM of the country was to be elected…Sardar Patel got 28 votes and Jawaharlal Nehru got 2 votes. But… pic.twitter.com/PaHocH0lzw— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2025
He cited the Allahabad High Court verdict on Raj Narain vs Indira Gandhi, which found the then PM Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractice in her Rae Bareli election. On June 12, 1975, in a landmark ruling, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha passed the order invalidating her win and banning her from office for six years, leading directly to the declaration of the Emergency.
“Can you give us a response as to why immunity was given to the prime minister by your government? I will speak about the immunity given to ECI (Election Commission of India)…you first, answer the PM immunity…you say we gave immunity to the EC (Election Commission)…Smt Gandhi gave immunity to herself…no one teaches them history,” he said.
The confrontation began when Gandhi interrupted Shah’s address, challenging him to engage in a full debate based on the contents of his three press conferences where he alleged widespread voter fraud and manipulation by the EC in collusion with the ruling BJP.
“Amit Shah ji, I challenge you to have a debate on the three press conferences,” Gandhi said, , specifically questioning why full immunity had been granted to election commissioners. “He (Shah) must tell us the thinking behind this. He talked of Haryana, he gave one example but there are numerous examples (of vote chori).”
Shah fiercely resisted the demand, saying he will not adjust his speaking order or frame his debate as per the wishes of the opposition. He said Gandhi “can’t run Parliament with your obstinacy” and demanded patience. When Gandhi hit back, labelling his response as “completely defensive”, “frightened”, and “not genuine”, Shah broadened his attack.
He defended the government’s efforts regarding the special intensive revision (SIR) explaining it is the specific “procedure to sanitise the voter list”. He accused the opposition of “double standards”, stating: “When you win, EC is great. When you lose, EC is useless and works at BJP’s behest. He did a PC and said voter list is not fair; SIR is the way for voter revision…this the only way to do it. What is ‘vote chori’…some families are pushtaini (generational) vote chor.”
The home minister countered the opposition’s claims that the BJP avoids anti-incumbency by arguing that anti-incumbency affects only those “who work against the public interest” and acknowledged that while the BJP rarely faces it, “it is not as if we have never lost any election after 2014″.
Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. December 10, 2025, 19:28 IST
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