'Sign affidavit or apologise': Election Commission's ultimatum to Rahul Gandhi over 'vote-chori' charge

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that there was a 'huge criminal fraud' in elections

After Rahul Gandhi alleged that there was a “huge criminal fraud” in elections, the chief electoral officers (CEO) of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana asked the Congress leader to submit a formal declaration under oath backing his “vote chori” (vote theft) charges.

"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," the three CEOs said in separate letters sent to Gandhi.

According to reports, Gandhi's evidence must include the name of the person cited for inclusion/exclusion, his part number of electoral roll and his serial number in the roll.  He must also declare that he understands that presenting false evidence or making a false declaration in connection with the electoral roll shall invite a jail term of up to three years (seven years if the false claims are repeated in court) under Section 227/229 of BNS and up to a year's imprisonment under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

The  Uttar Pradesh CEO officially rejected claims made by Gandhi that two individuals, Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh, are registered as voters in both Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. The response came after Gandhi alleged voter duplication and large-scale electoral fraud in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Bangalore Central during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha claimed there was "vote chori" of 1,00,250 votes in a Karnataka constituency, with 11,965 duplicate voters in the 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.

The CEO told the Congress leader that the electoral rolls are prepared in a transparent manner, as per the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and the Instructions issued by the Election Commission from time to time.

The CEO pointed out that the latest electoral rolls were shared with the representative of Congress as per procedure.

In his letter to the Congress leader, the Maharashtra CEO said his party did not file any appeal or second appeal before poll authorities claiming flaws in the voters' list.

The Haryana CEO also pointed out in his letter to Gandhi that no appeal was filed against the alleged discrepancy in the state electoral roll.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC's Indira Bhawan headquarters, where he gave the presentation on the alleged poll fraud, Gandhi hit back at the Election Commission for demanding his signed declaration on his claims and said he had made the remarks publicly and they can "take it as an oath".

"I am a politician, what I say to the people is my word. I am saying it to the people publicly, take it as an oath. Interestingly, they haven't denied the information. They haven't said the voter lists (shown by me) are wrong, they are saying Rahul Gandhi should say it under oath... they know the truth. We know you (EC) have done this across the country," the former Congress president said.

In a warning to those involved in perpetrating "electoral fraud", Gandhi said there are going to be consequences for every single polling officer who is doing this.

"It doesn't matter how senior or junior you are. One day, the Opposition is going to come to power and then you see what we do to you; because you are attacking the foundation of what our forefathers who fought for India's freedom built and we are not going to allow you to do that, no matter who you are," he said.

Gandhi said his message to the Election Commission is that they are not in the business of destroying Indian democracy but in the business of protecting it.

"This is a crime that is being committed against the Indian Constitution, against the Indian flag. This is nothing less than that," he said, alleging poll rigging in various parts of the country.

EC sources told ANI that if the Congress and  Gandhi believed in his analysis, he should have no problem in signing the declaration. "If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations. In which case, he should apologise to the nation. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the Declaration or apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI," said ECI sources.