New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday asked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to prove his “baseless” allegations on voter list tampering in Karnataka, and demanded that he corroborate his charges for “his credibility”, else it will be considered nothing more than political theatrics.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, replying to Rahul Gandhi’s “vote theft” claims, said that he was merely obfuscating facts and trying to malign the poll panel for political interests.
Taking to X, Malviya wrote, “For his own credibility, Rahul Gandhi must submit, under Declaration/Oath, the names of ineligible electors he claims are on the voter list, as required under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.”
Terming the Congress leader’s conduct reckless, Malviya further said, “If he fails to do so, it will be crystal clear that he has no real case and was indulging in political theatre, only to obfuscate facts, plant doubts in people’s minds, and tarnish the EC’s image.”
Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha doubled down his attack on the poll panel, saying that vote theft is not merely an “electoral scam” but also a major betrayal of democracy.
His message was also laced with a warning, as he said that “those complicit in crime will face punishment in times to come”.
On Thursday, addressing a special press conference, Rahul Gandhi levelled explosive charges at the polling watchdog and accused it of electoral malpractices “in collusion with the BJP to benefit the ruling party”.
He claimed that the constituencies were “stolen” from Congress through fraudulent means.
He accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP to manipulate elections through voter list fraud and cited the example of Mahadevpura Assembly constituency in Karnataka, explaining how over 1 lakh votes were stolen through fraudulent means.
BJP was quick to dismiss his allegations and also shared data, sourced from the state election commission, stating that the party’s vote share has consistently risen in the last four Assembly elections, whereas that of Congress has ebbed over the years.
“Rahul’s attempt to portray BJP’s dominance in Mahadevapura as electoral malpractice crumbles under facts,” it said while sharing details of the widening margin between the two parties in successive elections.
–IANS
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