'EC added 1 crore voters in 4 months...': Rahul Gandhi piles up 'vote chori' allegations after poll body calls his claims 'baseless'

Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi continued piling up "vote chori" allegations against the Election Commission, shortly after the poll body held a press conference on Sunday. Gandhi said that the poll body and the BJP have teamed up for vote theft.

"Lok Sabha elections were held in Maharashtra, and INDIA alliance wins. Four months later, Vidhan Sabha elections were held and in the same Maharashtra, BJP alliance sweeps and our alliance was not visible. It disappears. When we investigated, we found out that Election Commission magically created one crore new voters in four months after Lok Sabha elections. Wherever new voters came, BJP won there. Our votes did not decrease. The INDIA alliance got as many votes in the Vidhan Sabha as it had in the Lok Sabha. BJP got all the new voters. So we got suspicious," he said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

"We told Election Commission to explain this to us. Where did these one crore voters come from? Who are they? Election Commission tells us that we will not explain. We do not need you to explain. Then we told them that you have installed CCTVs. The law is that CCTV cameras will have to be provided to any party asking for CCTV. They say they will not provide CCTV," he added.

Further levelling allegations against the Election Commission, the LoP said "Then we said give us the voter list. They say they will not provide the electronic voter list...The Election Commission and the BJP together have committed theft in Bengaluru Central. I am telling you this with a guarantee...The Election Commission asks for an affidavit from me. But when Anurag Thakur says the same thing that I am saying, it does not ask for an affidavit from him."

Earlier today, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar had, during a press briefing, said claims of double voting and vote theft were “baseless” and warned that misinformation campaigns by some political parties were a “grave concern.”

“It is an insult to the Indian Constitution if election petitions are not filed within 45 days but allegations of vote chori are raised,” Kumar said at the press conference.