Rahul Gandhi's 'vote theft' claim an afterthought, says EC
Election Commission of India
on Thursday said leader of opposition in Lok Sabha
Rahul Gandhi
's allegations of "vote theft" during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in
Karnataka
appear to be an afterthought, given that Congress neither filed a single appeal with election officials after publication of the state's final electoral roll in Jan 2024 nor did it challenge the results in state high court through an election petition.
Talking to reporters in Parliament complex, Rahul claimed that Congress has "concrete 100% proof" of "cheating in an LS seat" in Karnataka and warned that "if you (EC) think you are going to get away with this... you are mistaken... we are going to come for you". The Congress MP said opposition would ensure that EC is held accountable.
Dismissing his charges as "baseless" in a statement, EC said: "It is highly unfortunate that rather than filing an election petition as per section 80 of Representation of the People (RP)Act, 1951, or if filed, awaiting verdict of HC, he has not only made baseless allegations but also chosen to threaten EC, which is a constitutional body."
With his allegations coming more than a year after the LS polls result, EC said it was wondering why "such baseless and threatening claims were being made against it and the CEC, and that too now."
It added that the losing Congress candidates did not file a single election petition to challenge the result, despite Representation of the People Act, 1951 allowing this within 45 days of declaration of result. Others, however, did file 10 election petitions in HC.
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Countering Rahul's "unwarranted threatening statements", the Karnataka chief electoral officer (CEO) on X said copies of the draft and final electoral roll for the state's 224 assembly seats were provided to recognised parties, including Congress, on Oct 27, 2023, and Jan 22, 2024, respectively. Between publication of the draft and final roll, around 9.2 lakh claims and objections were received and settled across 34 districts.
Neither Congress nor any other entity avail the two-stage appeal option available under Representation of the People Act, 1951, the post said.
Meanwhile, backing RJD functionary Tejashwi Yadav suggested possibility of boycotting Bihar elections over the special revision of electoral rolls issue, Congress' K C Venugopal said a political party's biggest weapon in a democracy is the voters' list and if that is compromised, with names being deleted and lists not being clean, then you are challenging democracy. "Let there not be an election and there be one party.
Let Election Commission rule that. That is what Yadav meant by his comment about boycotting," Venugopal said.
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