A resurfaced video of former cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad is making waves on social media, in which he openly admits that polling booths in Bihar were once looted for him, his late father, and other Congress leaders. This video is being circulated at a time when Rahul Gandhi himself faces the brunt on allegations related to voter theft by Election Commission.
In Karnataka (July 2025), Rahul Gandhi claimed to have ‘100% proof’ of electoral manipulation, pointing to an unusual number of new voter entries, particularly individuals over 45 and the deletion of younger, legitimate voters. However, the ECI’s explanations were dismissed by Gandhi as ‘complete nonsense’. He warned that the Commission was failing in its constitutional duty.
Rahul Gandhi’s most recent comments on Bihar have drawn particular attention for their intensity. ‘We have open and shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in vote theft,’ Gandhi said to Press. ‘Wherever you are, even if you are retired, we will find you.’ The strong language, framing the alleged actions as ‘treason’, has sparked concern among observers about the tone and timing of such statements.
Mr. Gandhi also accused the EC of preparing a “choreographed” election schedule to benefit the ruling BJP, evading questions from the Opposition, and refusing to provide digital copies of voter rolls. The EC responded with a strong public rebuttal, urging him to file a sworn complaint using a specific format it circulated.
At a dinner meeting on Wednesday evening, attended by around 50 leaders from 25 Opposition parties, Mr. Gandhi presented what he described as photographic evidence of “fake voters” in Mahadevpura. However, BJP leaders dismissed the claims as “baseless.”
Rahul Gandhi is already facing backlash over his high-handed comments on fake voters remark and putting the blame on EC for perhaps his political failures. And now interestingly, an old video is resurfacing on social media which puts the credibility of Rahul Gandhi as risk along with the Congress Government’s involvement in Electoral Manipulation by means of booth capturing.
The clip, recorded during a public address in Darbhanga shortly after Azad joined the Congress in February 2019, shows the three-time MP speaking candidly about the era before Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). “In those days, Congress workers used to loot polling booths for party leader Nagendra ji and others. Booths were looted for my father as well. In 1999, for me too,” Azad is heard saying to a cheering crowd.
Watch The Video Here.
Azad’s father, the late Bhagwat Jha Azad, served as Bihar’s chief minister in the 1980s and was a senior leader in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet. The remarks, delivered with a casual tone, paint a stark picture of the state’s electoral history when booth capturing was rampant.
At the same event, Azad defended his decision to leave the BJP after 26 years, accusing the party of having a “heinous and communal face” in recent years. But his admission about Congress-era booth capturing quickly overshadowed his political reasoning.
Kirti Azad’s 2019 confession is more than just a nostalgic anecdote about Bihar’s murky electoral past, it’s a blunt reminder of how normalized booth capturing was for Congress. His casual admission, delivered without hesitation, lays bare a political culture where winning often depended less on ballots and more on muscle.
That this revelation came just days after joining Congress only deepened the irony, a leader switching sides while openly admitting to benefiting from the very malpractice that EVMs were designed to stop.
The timing couldn’t be more surprising. Congress’s Rahul Gandhi is facing criticism across political spectrum for his fake allegations on ECI for voter theft. The wide circulation of Kirti Azad’s Video implicating Congress Party’s political history of manipulating elections by means of booth capturing, raises questions upon the credibility of Congress and the allegations made by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.