FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 16 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA LC | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Thursday, 06 November 2025 SPORTS NATION BUSINESS India-US trade talks: Major issues unresolved Page 12 ‘India, Japan have larger responsibility towards Indo-Pacific’ EDITORIAL PAGE Surreal Promises Page 8 Page 13 Rahul alleges massive vote fraud in Haryana, ECI rejects charges STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 5 November C ongress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday escalated his claims of widespread voter fraud in Haryana, unveiling what he called a calculated effort to convert a projected Congress victory into a win for the BJP during the Assembly elections in the state held last year. Speaking at a packed Press conference, he provided detailed evidence of multiple alleged irregularities. “The exit polls and postal ballots clearly showed a Congress sweep in Haryana, but the final tally tells a different story,” Mr Gandhi, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, asserted. “We have proof that approximately 25 lakh votes were stolen in the state. I bring this to you with 101 per cent truth.” Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks during a press conference, in New Delhi on Wednesday. SUBRATA DUTTA The Congress MP, who was armed with reams of documents, highlighted multiple discrepancies in the electoral rolls, including a woman whose photograph appears on 22 different voter ID cards, casting votes at 10 different booths under multiple names. The photograph, Mr Gandhi, said, was of a Brazilian model. “This is a centralized operation, what I call the ‘Brazil model’ Arsenal, Bayern Munich stay perfect, Liverpool beat Real Madrid of vote manipulation,” he said. “This is a system. This has now been industrialised and can be used in any state. The same will happen in Bihar. You may ask why we can’t stop it. The voters’ list is given to us at the last minute before the elections,” he said. Mr Gandhi also cited the dubious classification of voters registered under “house number zero” as homeless, when ground verification revealed that many actually reside at those addresses. In this context, he cited a case involving a BJP leader from Palwal with 66 voters registered at his home as evidence of systematic and orchestrated manipulation. The ECI rejected Mr Gandhi’s allegations, labelling the claims as unfounded. ECI officials pointed out that no claims or objections were filed by Congress-appointed Booth Level Agents during the revision of voter lists in Haryana, when discrepancies could have been flagged. “Why were no claims and objections raised by INC’s BLAs during revision to avoid multiple names?” an ECI source questioned. The ECI also challenged Mr Gandhi’s narrative regarding “house number zero” voters, clarifying that these designations pertain to areas without officially assigned house numbers, not homeless individuals as alleged. Kiren Rijiju calls Gandhi’s claims baseless: New Delhi: Union Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday refuted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of widespread vote theft in Haryana, terming the 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,” Mr Rijiju told mediapersons, and accused the Congress leader of using unsubstantiated claims to divert attention from the challenges his party faces in Bihar. “His press address is an act of fraud in itself,” the minister said. Page 16 Zohran Mamdani wins New York mayoral election AGENCIES New York, 5 November Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, of Indian descent, has won New York City's mayoral race, capitalising on the lib eral metrop olis' antipathy to President Donald Trump and economic angst. Preliminary results on Tuesday night showed Mr Mamdani, the Democratic Party candidate, winning about 50 per cent of the 2 million votes cast, to 41 per cent polled by former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing the party's nomination to him in the June primaries. Mr Mamdani will be the city's first mayor of Indian descent and the third non-White in the city's history. Mr Cuomo, who conceded defeat, congratulated Mr Mamdani and said he wanted him to succeed for the sake of the "greatest city in world". Mr Mamdani is the son of a Muslim Ugandan academic, Mahmood Mamdani, whose ancestry is Indian, and acclaimed India-born film director Mira Nair. Mr Mamdani mobilised an army of youth, fresh off the anti-Israel protests that rocked the city, to wrest the Democratic Party nomination, and they went on to expand his base beyond the young, White, economically well-off base to the working class and older people. He offered a socialist platform to people facing a high cost of living, promising free buses, a freeze on rents in some housing, city-run shops, a wave of new home-building, and higher taxes on the rich. The win sets the stage for a confrontation between Mr Mamdani and US President Donald Trump, who has moved against Democrat-run cities with ag gressive immigration enforcement and deployed federal forces for law and order. In his victory speech, Mr Mamdani threw a challenge to Mr Trump on immigration, declaring that for his enforcement campaign “to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us”. A city led by an immigrant will always be welcoming to immigrants, he told a delirious crowd of supporters who packed a theatre in Brooklyn. Addressing the US President, he said:“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I’ve got four words for you: Turn the volume up”. Shortly after, Mr Trump posted a dramatic four-word message on Truth Social, “…AND SO IT BEGINS”! • Related report: Pg. 11