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EC termed the allegations misleading and, through the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer, sought a written affidavit with the details of the allegations.
With the Opposition alleging discrepancies in electoral rolls in the country, and the Congress campaign against “vote chori”, the Election Commission of India said Thursday using such phrases was not only an attack on the electors, but also on the integrity of lakhs of poll workers.
In a statement, the poll body said: “If anyone has any proof of any person actually voting twice in any election, it should be shared with ECI with a written affidavit rather than colouring all the electors of India as ‘chor’ without any proof”.
“Trying to create a false narrative by using dirty phrases like ‘Vote Chori’ for our electors, is not only a direct attack on the crores of Indian electors but also an assault on the integrity of lakhs of election staff.”
It added that the principle of one person one vote had existed since the first general elections held in 1951-192.
The EC’s statement comes after Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, on August 7, presented findings of the Congress’s study of the electoral rolls of the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency.
Giving details of the alleged “vote chori”, Gandhi said at the press conference that over 1 lakh votes had been “stolen” using duplicate voters, false and invalid addresses, bulk voters in a single address, invalid photos and misuse of the registration form for new electors, the Form 6.
In response, the EC termed the allegations misleading and, through the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer, sought a written affidavit with the details of the allegations.
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Since then, the Congress and other Opposition parties have made more allegations regarding discrepancies in electoral rolls in other states as well.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, has levelled allegations about Gandhi’s constituency of Rae Bareli, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee’s Diamond Harbour seat, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s Kannauj constituency.
At a press conference on Wednesday, BJP MP Anurag Thakur said there were 2.69 lakh doubtful voters in Rae Bareli.
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