Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to institutionalise what he called “vote theft” through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across several states.

Speaking to reporters in Pachmarhi, where he is attending a training camp for Madhya Pradesh district Congress presidents, Gandhi claimed that the SIR process, launched on November 4 in nine states and three Union Territories was a deliberate attempt to “cover up” large-scale irregularities in voter lists.

“Vote theft is an issue, and the SIR now is about covering it up and institutionalising the system,” Gandhi alleged.

The Congress leader asserted that the problem was not confined to one state, alleging that similar manipulation of voter rolls had occurred in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh.

“A few days ago, I made a presentation on Haryana. The data clearly showed that around 25 lakh votes, roughly one in every eight, were stolen,” Gandhi claimed.

“After examining that data, I believe the same thing has happened in MP, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh. This is part of a system created by the BJP and the Election Commission.”