New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday issued a strong rebuttal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “vote theft” in Karnataka, asking him to give a complaint on oath or stop misleading citizens.
Issuing a “Fact Check” on the allegations made by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the ECI also circulated a format for a declaration on oath which Gandhi could use for filing a complaint related to allegations he made about the 2024 Lok Sabha election voter list in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura Assembly segment.
Claiming that the statements made are misleading, the ECI said: “If Rahul Gandhi believes what he is saying is true, then he should sign the Declaration/Oath as per Rule 20 (3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules 1960 and submit the same to ECO of Karnataka by today evening itself so that necessary proceedings can be initiated.”
The ECI also asked the LoP to refrain from arriving at “absurd conclusions”.
“If Rahul Gandhi does not believe in what he is saying, then he should stop arriving at absurd conclusions and misleading the citizens of India,” said the ECI.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi alleged massive electoral fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of Karnataka’s Bangalore Central constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and stated that similar manipulation was allegedly happening across the country.
Claiming that his statement was backed by data collected over six months by a team of over 30-40 people, the senior Congress MP accused the ECI of colluding with the BJP to manipulate voter roll, suppress scrutiny, and enable voter theft on a significant scale.
According to Rahul Gandhi, the Congress received 6,26,208 votes in Bangalore Central, while the BJP secured 6,58,915 votes — a margin of 32,707.
However, a deeper examination of the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, a part of this Lok Sabha seat, revealed a massive discrepancy. Here, BJP polled 2,29,632 votes while the Congress managed only 1,15,586 — a staggering gap of 1,14,046 votes.
LoP Gandhi claimed that at least 1,00,250 votes were stolen in this single Assembly segment alone and the same was being done across the country.
“First, duplicate voters. As many as 11,965 entries were found to be duplicated across multiple booths and even states. Names like Gurkirat Singh and Aditya Shrivastava appeared multiple times and in the case of Shrivastava, his name appeared in different states — Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh,” said LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi’s allegations against the ECI invited criticism Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju who accused him and his party of maligning constitutional institutions like the ECI and the Supreme Court, whenever decisions do not favour them.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Rijiju termed the Congress party’s criticism of the poll panel over alleged voter list manipulation as “bogus” and politically motivated.
“The claims made by Rahul Gandhi and his team are bogus. They are targeting the Election Commission to tarnish its image,” Kiren Rijiju said.
He pointed out that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a long-standing exercise, not new or politically driven.
“SIR has happened numerous times, even since the time of independence. In Maharashtra, when Congress and its allies won most Lok Sabha seats, they praised the same electoral rolls. But when they lost in the Assembly elections, the same rolls suddenly became a problem,” Kiren Rijiju said.
–IANS
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