EC on ‘vote theft' row: Parties should have flagged roll errors before polls; 'welcome scrutiny'
Election Commission
on Saturday said that the political parties should have raised errors in the electoral rolls during the claims and objections period of past elections.
The poll body said that it shares electoral rolls with political parties ahead of any elections to correct any mistakes.
"It seems that some political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) did not examine the Electoral Rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors, if any, to SDMs/EROS, DEOS or CEOS. Recently, some Political Parties and individuals are raising issues about errors in Electoral Rolls, including the Electoral Rolls prepared in the past," the poll body said in an official statement.
"The appropriate time to raise any issue with the Electoral Rolls would have been during the claims and objections period of that phase, which is precisely the objective behind sharing the Electoral Rolls with all political parties and the candidates. Had these issues been raised at the right time through the right channels, it would have enabled the concerned SDM / EROS to correct the mistakes, if genuine, before those elections," it added.
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EC also said that it "welcomes" the scrutiny of electoral rolls by parties and voters.
"It will help SDMS/EROS to remove the errors and purify the Electoral Rolls which has always been the objective of ECI," it said.
The poll body is also scheduled to hold a press conference on Sunday.
This comes after Congress leader Rahul unveiled what he had described as an 'atom bomb' of evidence against the Election Commission. Citing data from the Mahadevapura assembly segment, which falls under the Bengaluru Central parliamentary constituency in Congress-ruled Karnataka, he accused the poll body of 'colluding' with the BJP.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also accused the poll body of hatching a conspiracy to manipulate Bihar's voter list by issuing two Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers to Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and workers.
The Election Commission has firmly rejected the allegations and asked Gandhi to sign an affidavit to formalise his complaint. He refused, saying he had already sworn an oath to the Constitution.
The poll body also objected use of the term 'vote chori" by
Rahul Gandhi
, saying such 'dirty phrases' were aimed at creating a false narrative.
Meanwhile, Rahul has launched the "Vote Adhikar Yatra" against the alleged 'theft of votes' through EC's special intensive revision of electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar.
The yatra, scheduled to begin on Sunday, will cover more than 20 districts of Bihar over 16 days.
"We are bringing the Voter Rights Yatra to the people. This is the fight to protect the most fundamental democratic right – 'one person, one vote'," Rahul wrote in a post on X.
"Join us in Bihar to save the Constitution," he added.
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