Amidst a barrage of criticism for his claims on “vote-theft” in Haryana, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi found support from an unlikely quarter.

Jan Suraaj founder and poll strategist Prashant Kishor stated the questions raised by Rahul against the Election Commission were valid.

“The questions Rahul Gandhi is raising about the election process are valid, and we support the demand that the EC must respond to them,” Kishor said.

Kishor did not appear to be on the same page as Rahul on his apprehension that the Bihar results will also go the Maharashtra and Haryana way.

“As far as Bihar is concerned that is not the main issue here. In Bihar’s election, the real issues are migration, corruption and the education of our children,” he said.

The BJP fielded a Union minister, a former Union minister, two MPs, a chief minister and ministers from Haryana to counter Rahul’s charges made against Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and the central poll panel.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju called Rahul’s claims a “well-planned conspiracy” to tarnish India’s image.

“Rahul Gandhi is playing games in collusion with anti-India forces to defame the country,” Rijiju said, hours after Rahul claimed at least 25 lakh voter entries in Haryana were “fake” and that the Congress victory was “stolen.”

Rijiju reminded that senior Congress leader Kumari Selja herself had said during the Haryana elections that “Congress wouldn’t be able to win because its own leaders wanted to defeat the party.”

“If the Congress party has not filed a single case of fraud or violation of election rules, then they should file a petition. His press address is an act of fraud in itself,” Rijiju said.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur said Rahul’s remarks were an “insult to democracy and to the people.”

“If Congress continues to blame voters and the Election Commission instead of reflecting on its defeat, it is an insult to democracy and to the people. Rahul Gandhi and Congress repeatedly disrespect democratic institutions and voters, and this will cost them dearly,” he added.

Thakur also accused leaders of the INDIA bloc — Mamata Banerjee and Tejashwi Yadav, of “working to protect the ‘ghuspathiyas’ (infiltrators)” and “speaking the language of foreign forces.”

Haryana Minister Anil Vij ridiculed Rahul’s statements, saying, “Rahul Gandhi should tell the country how many hydrogen, nuclear bombs he has? He throws empty bombs. Rahul Gandhi never mentioned how many of the polls he cited were actually cast. Where were their polling agents? What was his party doing? Rahul Gandhi is an expert in making 'jhooth ka halwa'.”

The Congress MP from Rae Barelly found some backing from the Opposition benches.

Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin said, "The 'green proofs' released by Rahul Gandhi, regarding the vote theft that took place in Haryana are shocking. Going beyond all electoral malpractices, it has now come to light that BJP has brazenly staged a scam right in the voter lists, stolen the democratic verdict of the people, and it stands exposed today."

The Trinamool’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sagarika Ghose called his allegations “GRAVE,” writing on X, “The sheer SCALE of the voter irregularities in Haryana glaringly exposed the Election Commission. The EC’s credibility is gone. Anyone who values free and fair elections as essential to democracy must demand, for starters, an immediate & time bound investigation.”

"In the last very few years, the Election Commission of India has turned India’s bustling democracy, which was the largest in the world, into the largest fraudulent exercise to prevent free and fair elections. Whoever may win or lose an election, every Indian has the right to an equal value of vote!" Thackeray said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “There has been a very systematic way of taking away eligible voters and bringing in ineligible voters. We have done research on Mumbai and realised that many voter additions and deletions have occurred, which we will bring out at the right time.”

Delhi AAP President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “There is no competition for the BJP when it comes to committing fraud. They were openly committing fraud in the Delhi elections. There is a big question mark over all the elections the BJP is winning.”

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said “This expose of the shockingly manipulated Haryana voters list by Rahul Gandhi... shows how our Democracy has been turned into a farce by a crooked ECI which works as an agent to the BJP, Modi & Shah.”