Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday accused the Election Commission of having "stonewalled crucial information" which he claimed was effectively shielding those behind alleged "vote chori".
Kharge shared on X a media report which claimed that the case related to an attempt to remove electors by forging Form 7, ahead of the Karnataka Assembly election in 2023 has gone cold since the ECI is yet to share crucial data needed to nab the accused.
"Understand the chronology. Ahead of the May 2023 Karnataka elections, Congress had exposed massive deletion of voters: in Aland Constituency. Thousands of voters were stripped of their rights through a very sophisticated operation of forging Form 7 applications," he alleged. There was no immediate response from the poll body on the charges but the poll body has in the past dismissed all such claims by the Congress as baseless.
Upping the ante over Rahul Gandhi’s poll rigging claims, the Congress in August launched a web page where people can register to demand accountability from the Election Commission of India (ECI) against what it called “vote chori” and express support for his demand for digital voter rolls. In a post on X in Hindi, Mr. Gandhi said “vote theft” is an attack on the basic democratic principle of ‘one person, one vote’, and asserted that a clean voters’ list is essential for free and fair elections.
"In February 2023, a case was filed. The probe revealed 5,994 forged applications - clear evidence of a massive attempt at voter fraud. The Congress government then ordered a CID probe to catch the culprits. "But here's the twist: while ECI had earlier shared part of the documents needed to trace the forgery, it has now stonewalled the crucial information - effectively shielding those behind the Vote Chori!" Kharge said. Why has the ECI suddenly blocked vital evidence, he asked. "Who is it protecting? BJP's Vote Chori department? Is the ECI bending under BJP pressure to derail the CID probe?" the Congress chief said
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