Stung by Rahul's vote theft charge, EC seeks signed declaration or apology to nation

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi levelled allegations of over one lakh "stolen" votes in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat — which the opposition narrowly lost to the ruling BJP in 2024 — the Election Commission of India (ECI) hit back on Friday.

In a direct attack on the Leader of Opposition, the poll body asked him to either submit a signed declaration of his charges under oath or apologise to the nation.

ECI sources said that if Gandhi believes his analysis and allegations are true, then he should have no problem in signing a declaration to that effect.

However if he does not do so, then it will mean that his allegations are absurd and then he should apologise to the nation, they said.

On Thursday, soon after the Congress MP had given a detailed presentation to the media on how "vote theft" was effected at various levels in the assembly segment of Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, the ECI had retaliated by asking him to send a signed declaration under oath to that effect, through the Chief Election Officer (CEO) of Karnataka.

CEOs of Haryana and Maharashtra also later in the day had sought written declarations from him detailing his allegations against the poll body.

Meanwhile, taking a further jibe at Gandhi, ECI sources said that as usual, he might present his claims and objections against special intensive revision (SIR) of electrical rolls in Bihar only after the assembly elections in the state are over.

They went on to add that ever since the draft electoral roll for Bihar was published on August 1, not a single political party has come forward to present its objections on addition or deletion of voters in the rolls.

The Congress-led INDIA bloc has alleged that 65 lakh voters faced the risk of being deleted from the state's electoral roll following the SIR exercise.

The Supreme Court has sought a detailed response from the ECI to an application seeking the particulars and reason for each of the 65 lakh voters deleted from the Bihar draft electoral roll.

On August 6, a Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant told the poll body to file the particulars by August 9. A hearing has already been scheduled on August 12 on the matter.