Shashi Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP whose ties with his Congress party have been the subject of intense speculation, on Friday said the Election Commission should investigate Rahul Gandhi’s claims of vote-rigging.

Even Assam’s BJP chief minister HImanta Biswa Sarma did not dispute the Lok Sabha leader of Opposition’s claims and instead said they show the need for special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

“These are serious questions which must be seriously addressed in the interests of all parties and all voters. Our democracy is too precious to allow its credibility to be destroyed by incompetence, carelessness or worse, deliberate tampering,” Tharoor wrote on his X (formerly known as Twitter) handle on Friday morning with a 15-minute clip from Rahul’s Thursday afternoon presser where he alleged fraud in an Assembly segment of a Lok Sabha constituency in Bengaluru.

“ECI must urgently act and should keep the nation informed,” Tharoor added.

Assam CM Sarma, a former Congress member whose feud with Rahul is well-known, took Rahul’s charges as a “certificate” for the need of conducting the special intensive revision (SIR).

“Rahul Gandhi has himself given a certificate that SIR should be conducted. There should be a unique name along with an Aadhaar number. He [Rahul] took some north Indian names. In Assam, we have names of Bangladeshis in our voter rolls,” Sarma told reporters in Guwahati. “The same names are in Barpeta, Guwahati, Kerala and Delhi. It is a disease. That is why SIR is being done in Bihar.”

Rahul, with his allegations against the Election Commission that he doubled down on Friday, has once again emerged as the dividing line in Indian polity, with the entire Opposition rallying behind him and the BJP countering the charges with namecalling him.

“There is nothing wrong in the counting of votes, something is wrong with his thinking,” said Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. “The truth is his party has lost its credibility that is why they lose elections.”

Rahul said on Thursday that it was the Maharashtra election – that the BJP swept barely five months after being handed drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in the state – that prompted him to launch an investigation into alleged electoral malpractices.

“Logic has never been this LoP’s forte,” BJP leader Baijayant Jay Panda said. “So we should be sympathetic to his dilemma. After seven decades of his party cheating the voters with false promises – for which anti-incumbency became the norm – he simply cannot understand why Narendra Modi is the world’s most popular leader and the BJP keeps winning.”

Neither Fadnavis nor Panda or any other BJP leader has yet responded with logic to Rahul’s questions – like how a single-room home could have 80-plus voters, how the same person could be enrolled in four different constituencies in four states.

On Friday, Union minister Bhupendra Yadav claimed that in several constituencies in Maharashtra like Madha, Mohol, Nagpur West and Nagpur North, the number of voters had increased and the seats had gone to the Congress and its allies.

Yadav also said institutions like the armed forces, Parliament or the Election Commission are autonomous and work independently, and threats should not be issued against them.

The Opposition led by Rahul has questioned how autonomous institutions like the Election Commission are since the Narendra Modi government has even replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union minister (in this case home minister Amit Shah) in the three-member selection panel for the poll panel.

The other two members of the selection panel are the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition.

Yadav said Rahul should file an affidavit on oath, as the EC has asked him to, on his claims.

“Why are they asking for an affidavit? If an unintentional mistake was committed they can inquire. We have taken oath in the Parliament. Is there any greater oath in the country?” asked Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Wayanad MP and Rahul’s sister.

“Have the state election commissions investigated? Without investigation how can they say it is wrong? They have a bigger responsibility towards the people and not BJP. They should rethink.”

After his presser on Thursday afternoon, in a dinner that he hosted for the INDIA bloc partners, Rahul had once again explained the process by which he alleges the theft of votes was carried out in one particular constituency.

“At the dinner Sharad Pawar sahib suggested Rahul Gandhi’s presentation should be taken to the people in every state, every district and every block,” said NCP Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore alleged the EC was trying to protect home minister Shah.

“It is no surprise that the current Election Commissioners were chosen by Amit Shah – they are clearly his appointees. As a result, Amit Shah effectively controls the entire Election Commission. His choices are the ones running the EC, and they’ll always protect their master, Amit Shah,” Tagore said.

Outside the immediate political circle, Rahul found support in another voice.

Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia in a post on X said: “Not sure if Rahul Gandhi’s expose of the Election Commission will be heard by the Supreme Court, but if his allegations are true, India isn’t a democracy – it’s a mockery of democracy. Subverting the will of the people is beyond pardon.”