eci-dismisses-rahul-s-vote-theft-claim-calls-it-baseless

The Election Commission of India on Friday firmly rebutted allegations by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accusing it of stealing votes in favour of the BJP, describing his remarks as “baseless” and “irresponsible”.

 

In a sharply worded statement, the poll body maintained that it would not entertain such charges, even as it urged all election officials to continue discharging their duties “impartially and transparently” in the face of what it called daily provocations.

 

“Election Commission ignores such baseless allegations being made on a daily basis and despite threats being given daily, asks all election officials to ignore such irresponsible statements while working impartially and transparently,” the Commission said.

 

The response came hours after the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, addressing reporters outside Parliament, claimed the Congress had gathered “open and shut” evidence of the Commission’s complicity in what he termed as “vote chori” or vote theft.

 

“I have said ‘vote chori’ is happening and now we have open and shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in ‘vote chori’,” Gandhi said, adding that the findings from a six-month party investigation would “explode like an atom bomb”.

Also read: Open and shut case; EC stealing votes for BJP: Rahul Gandhi

 

“The things we found are an atom bomb. And when this atom bomb explodes, you won’t see the Election Commission in the country,” he warned.

 

The Congress, he claimed, had launched its probe after developing suspicions in Madhya Pradesh, which were later reinforced in Maharashtra where, he said, an unusual rise of one crore new voters had been recorded within a few months. The investigation reportedly centred around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

 

Gandhi accused the Commission of betraying the nation, likening its alleged actions to “treason”. He further warned those allegedly involved within the ECI, “Whoever in the Election Commission is involved, top to bottom, we will not spare you. Even if you are retired, we will find you.”

 

The Commission did not address Gandhi’s specific claims about voter roll manipulation in its public statement but sought to reassert the credibility of its functioning.

 

Meanwhile, the BJP has also rejected the Congress leader’s allegations, accusing him of undermining democratic institutions and “echoing foreign propaganda”.