The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a strong challenge to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi following his allegations of widespread voter fraud in Karnataka. The ECI has demanded that Gandhi either sign a formal declaration under oath to substantiate his claims or apologise to the nation for making what it called 'absurd allegations.'
According to sources within the ECI, "If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration. If he does not sign, it would mean he does not believe in his own conclusions and absurd allegations. In that case, he should apologise to the nation." The sources reiterated that Gandhi has two clear options: "Either sign the declaration or apologise to the nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI."
Gandhi's allegations, made during a 72-minute presentation in Delhi, accused the ECI of 'colluding' with the BJP to 'steal' over 100,000 votes in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat during the 2024 general elections. He claimed that a six-month investigation by a 40-member team, analysing paper electoral rolls that were 'seven feet thick' and in a non-machine-readable format, uncovered 100,250 'stolen' votes. His findings allegedly included thousands of duplicate entries, fake addresses, invalid photos, and suspicious Form 6 applications for new voters.
Gandhi highlighted that while the Congress party led in all other assembly segments of Bangalore Central, the BJP secured a decisive lead of 114,000 votes in Mahadevapura, which enabled them to win the overall Lok Sabha seat by a narrow margin of 32,707 votes. He alleged that the ECI's refusal to provide machine-readable data was evidence of its complicity in the 'vote chori' (vote theft).
The Congress leader's claims also extended beyond Karnataka, suggesting that such irregularities were part of a broader pattern. He argued that the BJP, which won 240 seats and formed the government with allies, survived with a 'slender majority' and that 'stealing' as few as 25 seats was enough to retain power.
Also Read: Rahul Gandhi alleges voter fraud, fake addresses in Karnataka
In response to the allegations, Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) from several states, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, have written to Gandhi. They have requested that he provide specific names of the electors along with a signed declaration under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. This rule allows a registration officer to require evidence to be given under oath to initiate an inquiry into claims of wrongful inclusion or exclusion of voters.
The CEO of Karnataka's letter explicitly asked Gandhi to "sign and return the enclosed declaration/oath... so that necessary proceedings can be initiated." Uttar Pradesh's CEO also challenged one of Gandhi's examples, stating that the names he flagged as duplicate voters in UP did not appear in the state's electoral rolls.
BJP leaders have also launched a sharp counter-attack. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused Gandhi of a 'larger conspiracy' to undermine democratic institutions, while senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that Gandhi had 'crossed all limits of shamelessness' by calling the ECI fraudulent. PC Mohan, the BJP MP from Bangalore Central, dismissed the claims as 'another drama' and questioned why no legal challenge was filed within the statutory 45-day period after the election results were announced.
Also Read: Rahul alleges EC-BJP collusion in ‘institutionalised chori’
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