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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, rubbished Opposition’s claims of vote theft through the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Responding to Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav’s claims that 65 lakh voters have been deregistered in Bihar, Singh said, “But they haven’t been able to present even a single concrete case. The EC has repeatedly said that if you have any complaints, please bring them to us, we are ready to investigate. Yet, over the same issue, they keep talking about “dropping a hydrogen bomb” or an “atom bomb”, but in reality, they haven’t even managed to light a small firecracker.” When asked about Gandhi’s allegations of vote theft in Haryana and Maharashtra, Singh said, “He took out a padyatra for the same, but he found nothing. But now he is discussing elections that are done and dusted. You can’t do politics for long by conning people.” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) talks about #OperationSindoor, Opposition's 'vote chori' allegations, Bihar elections, and more in an #exclusive conversation with @18RahulJoshi Tonight at 8 PM, watch here: https://t.co/3To2FgMuQG#RajnathSinghToNews18 pic.twitter.com/4v8R6yd9EE — News18 (@CNNnews18) November 7, 2025 Along with Gandhi, West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu CM and DMK’s MK Stalin, too, are objecting to SIR in their states. Singh said these statements are actually violating the democratic process concerning legitimate voters. “I want to ask them — those who have come from outside, the infiltrators whose names were on the rolls in Bihar — are now being removed. There are also many people who have permanently moved away from Bihar in search of livelihood or those who passed away. Only their names won’t be in the voter list,” he said. In the Haryana Assembly elections in October 2024, the Congress 37 seats out of 90. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 48 seats and retained power for a third straight term. Analysts called it a setback for the Congress, especially because many exit polls had predicted a comfortable win for them Calling it his much-awaited “H bomb”, Gandhi, on Wednesday alleged massive vote fraud in the Haryana Assembly polls last year. He alleged that 25 lakh votes were stolen in Haryana, which has a total of 2 crore voters. “This means one in eight voters in Haryana are fake, 12.5 per cent,” he said. While the EC earlier carried out an SIR in Bihar, the EC on October 27 now announced a similar exercise in 12 states and union territories. Banerjee led a massive protest against the SIR, while Stalin called an all-party meeting and vowed to resist the exercise.
