BJP escalates its attack on Congress over alleged dual voter IDs, targeting Pawan Khera and his wife Kota Neelima. Amit Malviya accuses Congress of “vote theft,” demanding Rahul Gandhi’s response and an Election Commission probe, while Khera dismisses the allegations as politically motivated ahead of the 2025 electoral season.
The political war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress deepened further on Wednesday, as the BJP escalated its “voter theft campaign” charges against senior Congress leaders. Just a day after revelations regarding Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera allegedly possessing two voter identity cards, BJP leader and IT cell head Amit Malviya targeted Khera’s wife, Kota Neelima, also a Congress politician, for allegedly holding two active Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs).
Malviya, who took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to make the allegations, claimed that Kota Neelima, who contested the 2014 Telangana Assembly elections from the Khairatabad constituency, holds two valid voter IDs. According to him, one is registered in Khairatabad, Telangana, and the other in New Delhi. He even shared the details of the cards, mentioning that the Khairatabad EPIC (No. TDZ2666014, Assembly: 60-Khairatabad) was active during 2023 and 2025, while another card (No. SJE0755975, Assembly: 40-New Delhi) also remains active.
The BJP leader questioned the silence of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the matter, alleging hypocrisy and double standards. “Rahul Gandhi held a press conference and, without adequate due diligence, targeted and tarnished honest voters – even putting them at risk by revealing their identities without consent. He doxxed young, upwardly mobile professionals and poor daily wagers who had moved cities in search of better opportunities,” Malviya wrote.
He further alleged that holding multiple voter IDs among Congress leaders was not accidental, but part of a deliberate pattern. “It is quite obvious that Congress leaders hold multiple EPIC numbers and are registered voters in more than one place, which was no coincidence,” he added.
Malviya went on to accuse the Congress of long-standing irregularities in electoral processes. He invoked Sonia Gandhi’s early years in India, alleging that she managed to have her name included in the electoral rolls as early as 1980 despite being of foreign origin. “Those indulging in Vote Chori are the very ones maligning common citizens for exercising their democratic rights and weakening our institutions. The rot isn’t limited to Pawan Khera and family. It goes back to the top,” he asserted.
The BJP leader also sought to link the controversy to a larger political narrative, saying that Congress and its allies defend “illegal migrants and non-Indians” while simultaneously accusing ordinary Indian citizens of voter fraud. According to Malviya, the issue was less about protecting democracy and more about preserving what he described as a “vote bank” that should not exist in the first place.
He directly called upon Rahul Gandhi to break his silence and demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) conduct a thorough probe. “Rahul Gandhi cannot extricate himself from these acts of criminality within his own ranks, particularly involving people aspiring for public office and members of his inner coterie,” Malviya remarked.
The controversy over Pawan Khera’s voter IDs had already gained momentum earlier this week when the district election officer of New Delhi issued a notice to the Congress leader. Khera has been asked to respond to allegations that he registered himself in more than one constituency. The notice, which was made public by Delhi poll officials on X, directed Khera to provide a reply by 11 a.m. on September 8.
Khera, however, rejected the allegations and accused the Election Commission of being partisan. Responding on X, he wrote, “… Yet another confirmation of how the @ECISVEEP functions to support the ruling regime. While our complaints of Vote Chori are disregarded, the EC rushes to act against opposition members.”
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The row over alleged dual voter IDs has now become a new flashpoint in the BJP-Congress tussle, with both sides accusing the other of undermining democratic processes. With the Election Commission now drawn into the controversy, all eyes will be on the official investigation and its outcome, which could have wider implications in the run-up to the 2025 electoral battles.
