Rahul Gandhi's BIG claim: Cong has proof EC doing 'vote chori.' ‘Baseless allegations,' says Election Commission

Mint

a day ago

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on 2 August, alleged that the Election Commission is indulging in 'vote chori' for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and claimed that his party has 'open and shut' evidence for it.
The Rae Bareli Member of Parliament (MP) likened his party's evidence of alleged poll irregularities to an 'atom bomb' and said that when it explodes, the Election Commission will have no place to hide in the country.
'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 told reporters in the Parliament House complex here.
'I am not saying this lightly. I am saying this with 100 per cent proof. As soon as we release it the whole country would know that EC is indulging in 'vote chori'. It is doing it for the BJP,' he said.
The Election Commission of India responded to Gandhi's allegation, terming it 'baseless.'
'The 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 poll panel told news agency ANI.
Gandhi said his party had suspicions of poll irregularities in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls in 2023, then in the Lok Sabha polls, and this went further in Maharashtra.
'We believe that vote theft has happened at the state level (in Maharashtra). Voter revision had happened, and a crore voters were added. Then we went into detail, seeing that the EC is not helping, and decided to dig deep into this,' he said.
'We got our own investigation done, it took six months, and what we have found is an atom bomb. When it explodes, the EC would have no place to hide in the country,' Gandhi said.
The Congress leader's remarks came after he, along with leaders of several Opposition parties, wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging him to schedule a special discussion on the ongoing voter list revision in Bihar without any further delay.
In their letter to Birla, the Opposition MPs expressed deep concern over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar, especially a few months before the state assembly elections.
The opposition has been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the SIR, alleging the EC's exercise was aimed at 'disenfranchising voters' in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections. They have been demanding a discussion on the issue in both Houses.
I have said 'vote chori' is happening and now we have open and shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in 'vote chori'.
Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju said this is not the first time Rahul Gandhi has threatened Constitutional organisations.
'This is a huge conspiracy to weaken democracy... This is a very dangerous behaviour and approach. The opposition is running a malicious plan to discredit constitutional organisations. It is an attack on democracy... Even the opposition party leaders have started to internally oppose Rahul Gandhi... People have started saying Rahul is playing a dirty game and wants to destroy the country's image,' Rijiju said.
On 11 July, Gandhi alleged that attempts were being made to hijack elections in Bihar on the lines of Maharashtra. Gandhi made these remarks while addressing a Congress rally in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
'Like Maharashtra, attempts are being made to hijack elections in Bihar," Rahul Gandhi alleged at a Congress rally in Bhubaneswar.