Election Commission hits back at Rahul Gandhi over ‘vote chori’ charges, asks the Cong leader to declare under oath

The Election Commission of India has sought Rahul Gandhi’s declaration on Thursday, 7 August, over allegations of irregularities in the voter list in the Mahadevpur Constituency of Karnataka.

The ECI, through the Karnataka CEO, has asked the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to provide the details of irregularities in the voter list under oath by today. The poll panel also warns that providing “false evidence” is punishable under Section 227 of BNS.

The CEO has also said that the election of MPs in Karnataka held in 2024 cannot be challenged now, as the election petition window is over.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday cited an analysis of data from a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka from the 2024 general elections to allege that the Election Commission is colluding with the BJP to “steal elections” and called it a “crime” against the Constitution.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said the Congress put together a team and collected “concrete evidence of vote chori” in six months.

Gandhi said that if the EC does not give us machine-readable data for the past 10-15 years and the CCTV footage, they are partaking in the crime.

“The judiciary needs to get involved in this because the democracy that we love so much does not exist,” the former Congress president said.

Gandhi said they analysed the voter data of the Lok Sabha constituency of Bangalore Central and the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in it from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Rahul Gandhi said in the whole Lok Sabha seat, the Congress got 6,26,208 votes while the BJP got 6,58,915, a margin of 32,707.

If the EC does not give us machine-readable data for the past 10-15 years and the CCTV footage, they are partaking in the crime.

Gandhi pointed out that while the Congress won six out of seven segments, it lost in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, where it was defeated by over 1,14,000 votes.

Maharashtra CEO also writes to Rahul Gandhi

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra, has also written to Rahul Gandhi over the allegations.

“…It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls…You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated,” the Maharashtra CEO said in a letter to Rahul Gandhi.