Rahul Gandhi Plays Host At His House Warming Party, Sonia & Priyanka Look On

Bungalow No 5, Sunehri Bagh Road, is the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s new official address. With voter fraud as the main menu of the house warming, Rahul played the host at his new residence on August 7 evening. His mother Sonia and Priyanka let him have all the spotlight and attention. He was seen interacting with all guests. Congress allies like Dr Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference and UBT Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and his wife Rashmi were among the guests.   He made a PowerPoint presentation to top opposition leaders on the “vote theft” in Karnataka — the one that he had done for the press earlier. Rahul claimed that internal surveys conducted by the Congress had projected wins in 16 of Karnataka’s 28 Lok Sabha seats, but the party ended up winning only 9. He used this discrepancy to allege “definite voter fraud,” once again pointing fingers at the Election Commission. Experts feel this line of reasoning is deeply flawed. Internal polls are neither transparent nor independently verified, and often reflect the optimism of campaign teams more than ground realities. If internal polls were a foolproof benchmark for electoral outcomes, then by that logic, the BJP should have cried foul for not crossing the 400-seat mark it had projected. He questioned how the BJP, despite completing two terms at the Centre, managed to secure a third consecutive win. “Anti-incumbency hits every party in every democracy,” he said, suggesting that the absence of such sentiment pointed to manipulation. The absence of anti-incumbency is not proof of fraud. Voters re-elect governments when they perceive stability, delivery, and leadership, particularly in the absence of a compelling alternative. India has seen this before under leaders like Nehru and Indira Gandhi, just as Germany did under Angela Merkel.