Mumbai, December 9: Several events took place this year which shaped IndiaтАЩs political history. From Rahul Gandhi making "vote chori" allegations to the Modi government launching Operation Sindoor and the Election Commission announcing phase two of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) following the successful exercise in Bihar, and more. We dive deep into political ups and downs and look back at how these events rewrote the countryтАЩs politics at large.

The year began with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning the Delhi assembly elections in February and culminated with the Indian team winning the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup. That said, the 25th year of the 21st century saw it all - violence and protests to policy changes, GST reforms and more. Scroll below to know which political events made headlines in 2025.

Rahul Gandhi Alleges 'Vote Chori' in Elections, Accuses ECI of Systematic Fraud

 

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Rahul Gandhi's Vote Theft Allegations

Since August this year, Congress MP from Rae Bareli and the leader of opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has time and again alleged vote theft in recent Indian elections, including the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections and the 2024 assembly elections in Haryana. On August 7, Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of indulging in systemic fraud in collusion with the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP). Claiming electoral fraud during the 2024 General Elections, Gandhi called the evidence an "atom bomb". He alleged that the ECI fraudulently added fake voters to the electoral roll in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka. The LoP also accused the commission of rigging the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and alleged "vote chori" (vote theft). Three months later, in November, Rahul Gandhi conducted another press conference and dropped "H" files claiming electoral fraud in the 2024 Haryana assembly elections. During his presser, the Congress leader claimed that a Brazilian model cast her vote with different names in the Haryana elections in as many as 10 booths. Speaking about H files, which he called the hydrogen bomb earlier, Rahul Gandhi said that out of two crore official voters in Haryana, 25 lakh voters were fake. However, the ECI consistently rejected Rahul Gandhi's claims of vote theft as baseless. The commission also asked the LoP to either submit sworn evidence or apologise to the countrymen, noting that no formal complaints had been filed despite repeated public accusations.

Protests Erupt in Different Parts of India Against Waqf Amendment Act

Passing of the Waqf Amendment Act and Its Aftermath

On April 4, the Parliament passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, after more than 12 hours of debate in the Lok Sabha and 14 hours in the Rajya Sabha. The Waqf bill was renamed as the United Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UWMEED) Act, 1995 and repeals the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923, and amends the 1995 Waqf Act. The bill was passed to enhance transparency in property management, include non-Muslims on Waqf Boards (limited to 3 of 11 members), abolish "Waqf by user," exclude trusts from Waqf regulations, and remove Section 40 allowing unilateral property declarations. President Droupadi Murmu gave assent to the Waqf Amendment Act on April 5, with Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju emphasising benefits for poor and Pasmanda Muslims without interfering in religious practices. The amendment of the bill into an act saw several protests, including violent ones, across the country, especially in West Bengal and Tripura. Opposition leaders such as Asaduddin Owaisi and Mohammad Jawed challenged the constitutionality of the Waqf Amendment Act 2025 in the Supreme Court. In September, the Supreme Court suspended parts of The Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025, including a provision which allowed the government to decide whether a disputed property is waqf or not.

ECI Announces 2nd Phase of SIR Exercise in 12 States and Union Territories After Bihar

SIR in Bihar and Phase 2 in Other States and Union Territories

In June this year, ahead of the Bihar assembly elections 2025, the Election Commission said that it would conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The SIR exercise required all voters in the state to fill out forms in order to be included in the voter list. Those people whose names were not on the 2003 voter lists had to provide additional documents. By November, the ECI had completed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's electoral rolls and published the final roll ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls in the state. Following the successful completion of SIR, assembly elections were held in Bihar in two phases, in which the BJP-led NDA emerged victorious with JDU leader Nitish Kumar taking oath as Chief Minister of Bihar once again. In October, ECI announced the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. In the second phase, the SIR exercise will be conducted in 12 states and Union Territories. These include Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Asaduddin Owaisi's 'I Love Muhammad' Post Goes Viral

I Love Muhammad Controversy

The "I Love Muhammad" controversy began in September when boards and posters with the slogan "I Love Muhammad" were displayed during the Barawafat procession in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The display sparked objections from a few local groups, leading to heightened communal tensions. This led to protests by Muslim groups across the country, with a few of them turning violent. The situation escalated when protests were held in cities, including Bareilly, after protesters gathered holding "I Love Muhammad" posters. They demanded the withdrawal of FIRs and the removal of restrictions on expressing love for the Prophet Muhammad.тАЛ In one incident, protestors clashed with police in Bareilly. The "I Love Muhammad" controversy gained wider attention when AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi shared a post saying "I Love Muhammad" was not a crime.

Operation Sindoor Launched To Give Justice to Victims of Pahalgam Terrorist Attack

India Launches Operation Sindoor In Wake of Pahalgam Terror Attack

On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor, a military response in the wake of the deadly Pahalgam terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. The military operation was launched after 26 civilians were killed in Pahalgam. Although the operation lasted about 30 minutes, India struck terror installations and military targets inside Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. Notably, the missile strikes by India targeted nine sites and infrastructures linked to the terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM). This was followed by retaliation from Pakistan and counter-retaliation by India. After four days, a ceasefire is said to have been brokered by US President Donald Trump following the India-Pakistan conflict. Since then, the US President has time and again claimed to have stopped the war between the two countries.

No GST on Essential Items and Individual Life and Health Insurance

GST Reforms Dubbed HST 2.0

On September 3, the Central government implemented major Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms, dubbed "GST 2.0," following the 56th GST Council meeting. Under the GST reforms, the tax structure was simplified from multiple slabs to primarily 5 per cent for essentials and 18 per cent for most goods, with the Modi government eliminating the 12 per cent and 28 per cent tax rates effective September 22. A new 40 per cent "demerit" rate targeted sin and luxury items such as tobacco, aerated drinks, high-end cars, and yachts, with exemptions being made for health and life insurance premiums and rate cuts on over 200 items, including packaged food, clothing, medicines, and electronics.

Arvind Kejriwal-Led AAP Loses Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 to BJP

AAP Losing Delhi Polls and NDA Winning Bihar Elections

The year 2025 saw two assembly elections taking place in Delhi and Bihar, with the ruling party emerging victorious in the Bihar polls and the opposition creating history in Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party won the Delhi assembly elections held in February by winning 48 out of the 70 seats. Notably, the BJP returned to power in Delhi after 27 years, with Rekha Gupta, an MLA from Shalimar Bagh, taking oath as the Chief Minister on February 20. On the other hand, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance swept the Bihar Assembly elections by defeating the opposition Mahagathbandhan-led by Rashtriya Janata Dal, amid Rahul Gandhi's vote theft allegations. NDA won 202 of the 243 seats with incumbent chief minister Nitish Kumar taking the oath as Bihar CM for a record tenth time.

Narendra Modi Surpasses Indira Gandhi's Record to Become 2the nd Longest Serving PM of India

On July 25, PM Narendra Modi became the second-longest consecutively serving Prime Minister in India's history (Photo Credits: Facebook)

Narendra Modi Becomes 2nd Longest Serving PM

On July 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi became India's second-longest consecutively serving PM after he completed 4,078 uninterrupted days in office since his first oath on May 26, 2014. Notably, he achieved the feat by surpassing former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi, who served for a record 4,077 consecutive days as Prime Minister of the country from January 24, 1966, to March 24, 1977. It is worth noting that PM Narendra Modi, who is a Member of Parliament from Varanasi, is only behind former PM Jawaharlal Nehru's 16 years and 286 days. Did you know PM Narendra Modi is the first and only Prime Minister to be born after Independence, the longest-serving non-Congress PM, and the longest-serving Prime Minister from a non-Hindi-speaking state? He holds several distinctions, such as being the first and only non-Congress leader to complete two full terms and to be re-elected twice with a majority, thereby making him the only non-Congress Prime Minister to secure a majority on his own in the Lok Sabha.

Sanchar Saathi Application Can Be Deleted From Mobile Phones, Says Jyotiraditya Scindia

Modi Government Withdraws Mandate Requiring Pre-Installation of Sanchar Saathi App

On December 3, the Narendra Modi-led Central government removed the order mandating the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app by mobile manufacturers on all smartphones. The government withdrew the mandate, citing a sharp rise in voluntary user registrations and growing public trust in the platform. The Ministry of Communications said the app, which has been designed to protect citizens from cyber fraud and telecom-related crimes, has been gaining strong acceptance, thereby making the compulsory installation rule unnecessary. The development came after there was widespread backlash over privacy and surveillance concerns. The announcement came hours after Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the app cannot monitor users and remains inactive unless someone chooses to register. He had also clarified that the Sanchar Saathi app remains voluntary, with users free to delete it anytime.

While 2025 observed several highs and lows in Indian politics, we hope that the coming year will bring positive changes in India's political landscape. With several assembly elections scheduled for the coming year, the upcoming political events will set the tone for 2026.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 09, 2025 09:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).