Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday lashed out at the Election Commission for asking him to submit an affidavit under oath, saying he had already taken an oath on the Constitution inside Parliament. Speaking at the ‘Vote Adhikar Rally’ in Bengaluru, Gandhi doubled down on his allegation that the 2024 Lok Sabha election was “stolen” through a nexus between BJP and Election Commission.
He further accused the Election Commission of silencing public scrutiny, claiming its website had gone offline after he released data that, according to him, raised serious questions about the integrity of the electoral process. “When the people are asking the Election Commission tough questions based on the data I shared, they shut down their website,” he alleged.
The ‘Vote Adhikar Rally’ in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Friday came as a follow-up after Rahul Gandhi’s press conference just a day before, where he accused the Election Commission of India of helping BJP win polls. In the rally, Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge alongwith Gandhi, reiterated the claims of vote theft by the BJP, alleging Election Commission was aiding them.
The rally was led by Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi began by stating that the rally is an initiative to protect the constitution and its foundation of ‘one man, one vote’. Gandhi, while highlighting his claims, said, “We began studying the results of the Bangalore Central LS seat, and specifically Mahadevapura segment.” He further mentioned that “EC and the BJP have together cheated Karnataka in LS polls”.
Rahul Gandhi claims vote theft with five ways
In the rally, he mentioned the vote theft of 1,00,250 citizens out of 6.5 lakh voters of Mahadevapura. He mentioned the five ways of vote theft in the Mahadevapura constituency with 11,965 duplicate voters in one assembly segment, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters.
Maharashtra elections and demand from EC
Rahul Gandhi also drew a parallel with the Maharashtra assembly election that was held just after the 2024 Lok Sabha election. He said that Congress performed well in the state assembly elections, but the BJP won because of one crore new voters added to the voter list. Gandhi reminded the Election Commission of owing it its allegiance to the Constitution, not the BJP. He said, “Our demand is that the EC give us the country’s voter list in electronic form as well as the videographic records.”
He reiterated that the data uncovered in Karnataka is “proof of a crime”. He further anticipated that if the EC refuses to provide the information, it means they are “hiding a crime and aiding the BJP in election theft”.
Gandhi also sternly warned, stating, “If we can get the data from EC, we will prove that Modi became the PM through vote theft… If you think you can get away with assaulting the Constitution, think again. It may take time, but we will catch you.”
Election Commission’s Rebuttal
The Election Commission of India (EC) on Friday issued a strong rebuttal to Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of large-scale electoral fraud, demanding that he either formally back his claims under oath or apologise to the nation.
The election commission letter reads,”…It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls cited at Para 3. You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated….”