File affidavit in seven days or apologise: ECI ultimatum on Rahul Gandhi's Karnataka vote theft allegations
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar also refused the Opposition's demands to publish a machine-readable voter list and to provide CCTV footage of the voting process, claiming that both measures would violate voter privacy.
In his first press conference since assuming office, the CEC did not name the Congress leader, but issued him an ultimatum to submit a signed affidavit within seven days or apologise to the nation for his allegations.
CEC hits back
This comes ten days after Mr. Gandhi alleged deliberate, large-scale discrepancies in the voter rolls of the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, which was won by the BJP in the 2024 general election. Following his explosive allegations made in a press conference, the offices of the Chief Electoral Officers of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana had asked Mr. Gandhi to submit his allegations under oath, which he has refused to do.
Asked why the ECI has not taken suo motu cognisance of the allegations made by the Congress, a combative CEC said, 'If accusations are made against 1,50,000 people, then should all these voters be given notices without any evidence?'
'You have to give an affidavit or apologise to the nation. If within seven days affidavit is not given, then it means allegations are wrong,' he said.
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'No discrimination between parties'
However, Mr. Kumar did not reply to a question on why BJP MP Anurag Thakur — who has made similar allegations of voter roll discrepancies in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by Mr. Gandhi — was not asked to submit an affidavit as well.
To another question on why a complaint filed by the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha about last year's Lok Sabha election had not been probed, Mr. Kumar clarified that the complaint was not made under oath, adding that the 45-day limit for complaints has also passed. He had a similar response to a complaint filed by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The CEC began the press conference by asserting that the ECI cannot discriminate among political parties, insisting that it considers ruling and Opposition parties as equal.
'Insult to the Constitution'
He said that it was an insult to the Constitution if election petitions are not filed within 45 days, but allegations of 'vote chori' (vote theft) are later raised.
'According to law, if errors in the voter list are not reported in time, if an election petition is not filed in the High Court within 45 days of a voter choosing their candidate, and then misleading attempts are made to confuse people by using wrong words such as 'vote theft', then what else can this be if not an insult to the Constitution of India?' he asked. 'More than one crore employees are engaged in the election exercise. Can 'vote chori' happen in such a transparent process?' he added.
Mr. Kumar sought to dismiss any doubts about the 2024 election. 'How can someone steal votes' in such a scenario, he asked, adding that 'neither the ECI nor any voter is afraid of such baseless accusations'.
On the accusations made by the Opposition regarding the Maharashtra Assembly election, he said, 'When the results came, suddenly they remembered that the rolls were wrong? No objection with evidence has been filed against any voter with the Maharashtra CEO. The elections happened eight months ago. Why no election petition was filed? It was said, 'Why so much polling in the last hours. Every hour, there was 10% polling, and in the last hour, there was less than 10% polling. Telling something repeatedly does not mean it will become true. Sun rises in the east and it will not rise in the west just because someone says so.'
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