The Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken a strict stance on the allegations of vote theft made by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi . Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has said in clear words that Rahul Gandhi will have to give his affidavit within 7 days or else he will have to apologize to the country. The commission also clarified that there will be no third option in this case. Rahul Gandhi recently claimed in a press conference that fake voting is taking place across the country. He showed the data through a PPT and said that a woman voted twice, and also alleged that the polling officer himself had given this information. The Election Commission strongly objected to these statements and said that making such serious allegations without evidence is an attempt to weaken the democratic system.
What did the Election Commission say?
The Chief Election Commissioner said, “If anyone thinks that just by making a PPT and without any concrete data, they can claim that the same person has voted twice, then it is wrong. We cannot take such serious allegations lightly.” He further added that, “Rahul Gandhi will either have to give evidence in the form of an affidavit or else apologize to the entire country for his allegations. He has been given seven days. If the affidavit does not come in this time It will be assumed that their allegations are baseless.”
Commission’s reply regarding accuracy of voter list
The Election Commission also clarified that the SIR (Systematic Investigation of the Rolls) process is being carried out to make the voter list clean and transparent. Gyanesh Kumar said, “This process was not done for the last 20 years. Now, when complaints came from different political parties, it has been started. Giving the example of Bihar, he said that there were 22 lakh names of dead voters in the list, who had died many years ago. Now they have been removed.”
“The Election Commission stands with every voter”
The Chief Election Commissioner made it clear that no eligible voter’s name will be removed from the voter list without any proof. He assured that “the Election Commission stands like a rock with every single voter.” The ECI said that when such serious allegations are made publicly about the country’s biggest democratic event – elections – the Election Commission cannot remain silent.
He said, “Making such allegations in the presence of the largest voter list, the largest election staff team, and the largest number of voters is highly irresponsible.”