- Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of voter fraud in Karnataka elections
- The Election Commission challenged Gandhi to submit a declaration of found irregularities
- BJP questioned why Gandhi has not submitted the required declaration so far
The BJP has again hit out at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his voter fraud allegations during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka and explosive claims against the Election Commission. The accusations led to an ugly spat yesterday, with the EC daring the Congress MP to submit a declaration with his findings or withdraw his "fabricated evidence".
Why is Mr Gandhi not submitting the declaration, the BJP asked, contending that his failing to do so would prove that he has no real case.
BJP's media cell chief Amit Malviya trained guns at the Opposition leader in an online post this morning, questioning his reluctance to submit the declaration containing the names of ineligible electors that he claimed were on the voter list in Karnataka.
"If he fails to do so, it will be crystal clear that he has no real case and was indulging in political theatre, only to obfuscate facts, plant doubts in people's minds, and tarnish the image of a constitutional body entrusted with free and fair elections," said Mr Malviya, asserting, "Such conduct is reckless and harmful to our democracy."
Read: Rahul Gandhi Shares Karnataka "Votes Stolen Proof", BJP Says "Bogus"
The matter blew up yesterday - amid Opposition pushback to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in election-bound Bihar - which the poll body says is being conducted to clean the voter rolls of inactive and dead voters.
Mr Gandhi claimed that a massive voter fraud had been unearthed in a Karnataka Assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
He said the Opposition's Maharashtra setback just months after their strong show in the Lok Sabha elections last year raised suspicion. The INDIA bloc had won 30 out of the 48 Maharashtra seats in the Lok Sabha polls but could not even cross 50 in the state polls held only five months later.
He also accused the EC of drafting a "choreographed schedule" for the assembly polls in collusion with the ruling BJP. He alleged that the Election Commission evades replies when questioned and that it refused to provide digital voter rolls.
The EC issued a strong rebuttal, daring him to submit a complaint under oath or stop misleading citizens, and circulated a format that he could use as a declaration for filing the complaint. The BJP swiftly denied the charges as "baseless".
Read: Rahul Gandhi's "Voter Fraud" Powerpoint At INDIA Bloc Dinner Meet
Mr Gandhi made another presentation, which included what he claimed were photo evidence of fake voters, to about 50 leaders from 25 Opposition parties who attended a dinner he hosted last evening.
He claimed that a survey had found six main irregularities in Karnataka, including same voter names appearing multiple times in rolls, the same voters across multiple states, non-existent addresses, bulk voters at a single address, indistinguishable photos on voter IDs, and the misuse of Form 6.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma pointed out that these are the same concerns due to which the Election Commission had started the special revision of the voter list in Bihar. Accusing Mr Gandhi of hypocrisy, he claimed that Mr Gandhi is indirectly supporting the SIR.
"Even dead people's names still appear in village voter lists. This is a long-standing problem that the EC is trying to address. In a way, Rahul Gandhi has endorsed the EC's efforts," he said.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi also sought to downplay Mr Gandhi's claims as "not serious" and sought to know why he didn't file any petition against the voter fraud. He pointed out that Mr Gandhi is himself part of the three-member panel that selects the Chief Election Commissioners, whereas earlier Prime Ministers of the Congress party appointed the EC chief their own.
"When Rajiv Gandhi was killed, they (Congress) could have postponed the election in just his constituency, but they postponed the election in the entire nation. Congress wanted to take sympathy votes. Those who have conducted elections like this are trying to teach us lessons about elections today," said Mr Joshi.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey also slammed Mr Gandhi, accusing his party of winning elections since 1952 by stealing votes, looting, and booth capturing. "These are not my words, it was your grandmother Indira Gandhi's response in the Lok Sabha on July 1, 1980, read it," he said, sharing a screenshot from the parliament archives.
