NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday reiterated claims that the Election Commission of India was “stealing” votes for the ruling BJP to which the top poll body reacted saying that it ignores such baseless allegations”.
On the day, the poll panel published the draft electoral rolls for Bihar, Rahul Gandhi claimed that he has 100 per cent proof of the ‘vote chori’.
The Bihar rolls follow a month-long, controversy-ridden Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
“I have said ‘vote chori’ is happening and now we have open and shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in ‘vote chori’,” Rahul told reporters in the Parliament House complex. “I am not saying this lightly. I am saying this with 100 per cent proof. As soon as we release it, the whole country would know that EC is indulging in ‘vote chori’. It is doing it for the BJP.”
Rahul said suspicions initially arose during the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, followed by the Lok Sabha elections, and later in Maharashtra.
“We believe that vote theft has happened at the state level [in Maharashtra]. Voter revision had happened and crores of voters were added,” he said.
He said the Congress had conducted a six-month-long investigation faced with a lack of cooperation from the Election Commission.
“What we have found is an atom bomb. When it explodes, the EC would have no place to hide in the country,” he warned.
He once again warned EC officials.
“This is treason, nothing less than that. You may be retired, you may be anywhere, we will find you,” he said, asserting that everyone from top to bottom involved in the alleged wrongdoing would be held accountable for “working against India.”
Hours after Rahul’s remarks, the EC published the draft electoral rolls for Bihar.
According to the poll panel, 7.23 crore voters submitted their enumeration forms during the process, while 35 lakh were found to have “permanently migrated or gone untraceable,” 22 lakh were reported deceased, and 7 lakh appeared in more than one electoral rolls.
Enumeration forms were not submitted by another 1.2 lakh individuals.
The draft rolls, now available for public scrutiny on the EC website, begin the phase of “claims and objections” open until September 1, during which voters can contest wrongful deletions or inaccuracies.
While the EC has yet to disclose the exact number of voters on the revised rolls, officials stated that hard copies would be shared with political party representatives later in the day.
Opposition parties have sharply criticised the SIR, claiming it is a tool for voter suppression intended to benefit the ruling NDA in Bihar. Several MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, have petitioned Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to allow a special discussion on the voter revision process.
The issue has also reached the Supreme Court, which recently remarked that the SIR exercise should result in “en masse inclusion and not en masse exclusion”. The top court will be examining Bihar’s draft rolls published on August 1 on August 12 and 13.
Earlier, the Election Commission responded to the ‘voter theft’ accusations levelled by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that the poll body “ignores such baseless allegations”.
The poll body in a stark response to the Congress leader’s remarks said, “Election Commission ignores such baseless allegations being made on a daily basis and despite threats being given daily, asks all election officials to ignore such irresponsible statements while working impartially and transparently.”
[Writer is a Senior Journalist and Political Commentator]
