CEC Officially Refutes Fresh Allegations By Rahul Gandhi Against Him On Vote Chori

Ahead of the expansion of SIR to the rest of the Union of States, the Election Commission of India has rejected Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s fresh charge on Thursday against CEC Gyanesh Kumar as ‘baseless’. “Allegations made by Shri Rahul Gandhi are incorrect and baseless. No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public,” the ECI spoke for itself.

Does constitutional bodies have the power and option to clear charges leveled against them by anybody? The Election Commission of India (EC) on Thursday dismissed as “incorrect and baseless” Rahul’s allegations against CEC Gyanesh Kumar that he was shielding people involved in voter deletions from electoral rolls of poll-bound states, widely referred to as “Vote Chori.:

The Leader of Opposition in tis allegations of “Vote Chori” from numerous forums including from pressers and rallies. In fact, “Vote Chori” is now all across India even as the ECI is preparing the ground for the imposition of its special intensive drive (SIR) in other states. Poll-bound West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are in the list. Preparations are also under way in Uttar Pradesh, which is BJP-ruled.

Rahul Gandhi has been repeating his charge against the CEC again and again and the ECI had given him an ultimatum to retract and apologise within so many days. But there was no retraction nor an apology. If anything, there was no ECI action taken either, till this rebuttal that CEC Gyaneswar Kumar is innocent of all charges, go figure!

The ECI said the contention that deletion of any vote can be done online by anybody is “misconceived”. It went on to say that “no voter can be removed from the rolls without due process and no deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person”, something which cannot be taken at face value as the country is full of “affected persons” crying to be “heard”, including among them thousands of the long dead.

On Gandhi’s allegation on Karnataka’s Aland constituency, the ECI admitted attempts were made in 2023 to illegally delete voters but covered up by saying that the attempts were unsuccessful and that an FIR was filed by the ECI for a probe. It gave a clean-chit to the elections in Aland and that it was a “fair outcome”; that the BJP’s Subhadh Guttedar was winner by all counts.

But none of ECI’s clarifications satisfy Gandhi, who had accused Gyanesh Kumar of protecting and giving cover to “vote chors”, stating that those “destroying Indian democracy” must be exposed and held to account, Fact is opposition leaders had gone to the extent of tracing their whereabouts even if they had retired and punished.

Rahul Gandhi had alleged voter deletions were carried out systematically, using automated software. He cited Karnataka’s Aland and Maharashtra’s Rajura constituencies. Gandhi claimed Karnataka CID had written 18 times to the ECI in the past 18 months, all in vain. “EC knows who is doing this. They are defending the murderers of democracy,” he said.

Gandhi spoke of “atom bomb” and “hydrogen bomb” revelations of “vote chori”. Next, will Rahul Gandhi approach court with his vote theft allegations? Apparently, Rahul’s team has help “from within” the ECI. And on Thursday Rahul Gandhi shot back at CEC Gyanesh Kumar, doubling down on the vote theft allegations.

This time Gandhi has claimed that votes are still being systematically deleted. The LoP asked Gyanesh Kumar to answer to Karnataka’s CID about vote deletion allegations and giving the CEC a week to answer.

“We are presenting criminality in front of you. Our job is to present the truth in front of you. Institutions other than the EC, judicial system needs to look into this. We have conclusively shown that the same force is deleting and adding voters,” Rahul said.

Where is all this going? The ECI-Rahul Gandhi saga is not going to end anytime soon. How far will Rahul Gandhi take the war is a no-brainer. The Election Commission’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls has moved to other states apart from Bihar. Rahul Gandhi’s claim of “same force” manipulating voter lists across states cannot be set aside as just another of the LoP’s imaginations. The ball continues to remain in the CEC’s court.

Tamil Nadu on Wednesday announced that preparations were on to implement SIR in the state and Tamil Nadu happens to be an opposition ruled state with the Congress as a ruling partner. Chief Minister MK Stalin was recently in Bihar where he made a point to refer to vote-theft. (IPA Service)