The Election Commission on Monday reiterated its ultimatum to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, saying he still has time to provide a declaration on the first letter of the Chief Election Officer (CEO) of Karnataka and a reminder from the CEO of Haryana, or to apologise to the country over his “vote chori” (vote theft) allegation.
The statement came a day after the Karnataka CEO issued a notice and the CEO of Haryana sent a reminder. The Karnataka CEO has asked Rahul Gandhi to submit documents to initiate an inquiry into his claims of “vote theft” against the Election Commission of India.
During a press conference on August 7, Rahul Gandhi alleged “vote chori” against the EC and the BJP-led Centre, citing the Congress’ internal assessment. The Leader of Opposition said the party had expected to win 16 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka but secured only nine.
According to him, the Congress investigated seven unexpected defeats, focusing on Mahadevapura, where he claimed “vote theft” of 100,250 votes had occurred.
Presenting what he described as Congress’ research into voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the stolen votes were linked to duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and multiple voters listed at a single address.
“We found 100,250 votes stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, in a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, there is no record of those people living there. One family living in that house,” he said.
On Saturday, the Election Commission of India asked Rahul Gandhi to either provide a declaration as per the rules or apologise for what it termed “false” allegations regarding voter lists.
In a letter dated August 10, the Karnataka CEO referred to Rahul Gandhi’s claim that he had documents, presented during his August 7 press conference, from ECI records. These, he alleged, showed that a voter named Shakun Rani had cast her vote twice, based on data purportedly shown by a polling officer.
The Election Commission said a preliminary inquiry found Shakun Rani had denied voting twice. It also noted that the tick-marked document presented by Rahul Gandhi was not issued by the polling officer, raising concerns about the authenticity of the evidence.
The Karnataka CEO has asked Rahul Gandhi to provide the relevant documents underpinning his allegation so that the state’s electoral authorities can carry out a detailed investigation.
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