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Not a court: P Chidambaram's swipe at poll body over notice to Rahul Gandhi

Not a court: P Chidambaram's swipe at poll body over notice to Rahul Gandhi

India Today2 days ago
Congress leader P Chidambaram has argued that the Election Commission of India is not a court but an administrative body and cannot behave like a court while entertaining petitions or complaints. "The ECI is not a Court and cannot behave like a Court in entertaining petitions/complaints. ECI is an administrative body with responsibility for holding free and fair elections," he tweeted. advertisementTalking about Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, he said that it will only apply to the case of a specific decision made by the ERO accepting or rejecting a 'claim' to be included in the electoral rolls and will have no application in case of alleged massive manipulation in electoral roll of an entire Assembly constituency.The ECI is not a Court and cannot behave like a Court in entertaining petitions/complaintsECI is an administrative body with responsibility for holding free and fair electionsBesides, Rule 20(3)(b) will apply only to the case of a specific decision made by the ERO accepting— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 10, 2025
He also said the poll body not only owes a duty to the political parties, but to the voters of the country as well. Chidambaram's tweet comes after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was asked by Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to submit documents supporting his allegation that a voter cast her ballot twice in last year's Lok Sabha elections.In the letter, the CEO referred to Gandhi's recent press conference, where he claimed that certain documents in his presentation were 'EC data' and alleged that voter Shakun Rani had voted twice based on records 'given by the polling officer.' The letter mentioned Rahul Gandhi saying, 'Es ID card par do baar vote laga hai, wo jo tick hai, polling booth ke officer ki hai. (This ID has been used to vote twice, the tick marks were made by polling booth officer)'.'You are kindly requested to provide the relevant documents on the basis of which you have concluded that Shakun Rani or anyone else has voted twice, so that a detailed enquiry can be conducted,' the letter said.On Monday, the Members of Parliament from the opposition INDIA bloc will march to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls and alleged election malpractices.The MPs will be led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who has demanded that the election commission release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them."Vote Chori is an attack on the foundational idea of 'one man, one vote'. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections. Our demand from the EC is clear - be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them," tweeted Rahul Gandhi.- EndsMust Watch
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