FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Thursday, 06 November 2025 SPORTS NATION BUSINESS India-US trade talks: Major issues unresolved Page 10 ‘India, Japan have larger responsibility towards Indo-Pacific’ EDITORIAL PAGE Surreal Promises Page 6 Page 8 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 termed a calculated effort to convert a projected Congress victory into a win for the BJP during the Assembly elections held last year. Speaking at a packed Press conference, he provided detailed evidence of alleged irregularities that have sent shockwaves through the political landscape. “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 Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks during a press conference, in New Delhi on Wednesday. SUBRATA DUTTA with 101 per cent truth.” 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, Arsenal, Bayern Munich stay perfect, Liverpool beat Real Madrid what I call the ‘Brazil model’ 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. The ECI rejected Mr Gandhi’s allegations, labeling the claims as unfounded and raising questions about the Congress party’s own accountability in monitoring the electoral process. 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, a critical period when discrepancies could have been flagged. “Why were no claims and objections raised by INC’s BLAs during revision to avoid multiple names?” an Election Commission 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. Officials further pointed out that records indicate some voters accused of double voting had actually supported the Congress, undercutting claims of a BJP conspiracy. Kiren Rijiju calls Gandhi’s claims baseless: New Delhi: Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday refuted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of widespread vote theft in Haryana, accusing him of using unsubstantiated claims to divert attention from the challenges his party faces in Bihar. Speaking to reporters, Mr Rijiju said: “Rahul Gandhi held a Press conference not to discuss the Bihar polls but to hide his failures by raking up the Haryana issue. This shows Congress has nothing left in Bihar, so they try to distract people with irrelevant matters.” He urged the Opposition leader to focus on serious issues instead of making baseless accusations. Page 12 Zohran Mamdani wins New York mayoral election AGENCIES New York, 5 November Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, of Indian descent, won New York City's mayoral race, capitalising on the liberal metropolis' 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". When his supporters booed, he tried to silence them, saying, "That is not us". It was a turn from a vicious campaign during which they and their supporters traded insults. Mr Mamdani is the son of a Shia Muslim Ugandan academic, Mahmood Mamdani, whose ancestry is Indian, and movie director Mira Nair, who is from a Hindu family in India. 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 the older people. 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”! Mr Trump, who described the Democratic Socialist as a “Communist”, said in an election-eve post that New York City will be "a Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster" if Mamdani wins.