ECI invites Rahul Gandhi to discuss his allegations on Maha Assembly polls: Sources
Election Commission of India
(
ECI
) invited the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha,
Rahul Gandhi
, for an interaction to discuss the issues related to his allegation on the Maharashtra Assembly Election held last year, sources said on Tuesday.
According to the sources, the letter was sent via email on June 12 and was also received at his residence.
The former Congress President has recently raised allegations against the poll body of "election rigging' in the
Maharashtra assembly polls
. However, ECI has rejected the allegations.
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Gandhi has further raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process, citing the destruction of evidence as a potential indicator of election rigging against the backdrop of the Election Commission's (EC) revised guidelines on preserving video footage and photographs of elections, reducing the retention period to 45 days.
Earlier, amid a demand for making available video or
CCTV
footage of the webcasting of the polling stations during the poll day, EC sources said that it is "entirely contrary to the privacy and
security
concerns of the voters" and sharing of the footage would leave both the elector, who has voted, as well as the elector, who has not voted, vulnerable to "pressure, discrimination and intimidation by anti-social elements".
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ECI sources also justified the decision in which the Election Commission has asked its state poll officers to destroy CCTV cameras, webcasting and video footage of the election process if the election result is not challenged in a court in 45 days.
EC sources said some people are raising the demand for making available the video or CCTV footage of the webcasting of the polling stations on poll day.
"While this suits their narrative in making the demand sound quite genuine and in the interest of voters and safeguarding the democratic process in the country, it is aimed at achieving exactly the opposite objective. What is veiled as a very logical demand is entirely contrary to the privacy and security concerns of the voters, the legal position laid down in the Representation of the People Act, 1950/1951 and the directions of the Supreme Court of India," a source said.
"Sharing of the footage, which would enable easy identification of the electors by any group or an individual, would leave both the elector who has voted and the elector who has not voted vulnerable to pressure, discrimination and intimidation by anti-social elements. For instance, if a particular political party gets a lesser number of votes in a particular booth, it would easily be able to identify, through the CCTV footage, which elector has voted and which elector has not, and thereafter, may harass or intimidate the electors. Thus, what exactly lies beneath this layered demand of such persons or interest groups needs to be deciphered and exposed, the source added.
EC sources said that the Election Commission retains the CCTV footage, which is purely an internal management tool and not a mandatory requirement, for a period of 45 days, which aligns with the period laid down for filing an Election Petition (EP).
Earlier in the day, Gandhi claimed that the voter list grew by eight per cent in just five months in Maharashtra Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis
's constituency, labelling it as "vote theft".
In a post on X, Gandhi shared a news article, demanding the immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage.
The former Congress President claimed that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) reported unknown individuals casting votes in Nagpur South West, where Fadnavis won last year by over 38,000 votes. He also pointed out that the media have also uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address.
"In Maharashtra CM's constituency, the voter list grew by 8% in just 5 months. Some booths saw a 20-50% surge. BLOs reported unknown individuals casting votes. Media uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address," Gandhi said on X.
"And the EC? Silent - or complicit. These aren't isolated glitches. This is vote theft. The cover-up is the confession," he alleged.
"That's why we demand the immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage," Gandhi said.
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