Poll roll 'fraud' claims false, need proof: CEC

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday called the Opposition’s allegations of “vote theft” during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and discrepancies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls false and baseless, saying that the public is being misled and the Constitution undermined through these charges, even as it again called upon Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to provide proof of the alleged voter fraud or withdraw his remarks.

- Vrinda Tulsian

At a press conference on Sunday afternoon, the first to be held by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar since he took over in February and the first since the controversial SIR drive was ordered in Bihar, the poll body said that it will not be cowed by political attacks.

The EC's pushback came on a day when the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, launched a 1,300-km Voter Adhikari Yatra in Bihar's Sasaram, to counter what he alleged is “a conspiracy” by the EC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to steal Bihar assembly polls.

“When politics is being done by targeting the voters of India by keeping a gun on the shoulder of the Election Commission, today the Election Commission wants to make it clear to everyone that it fearlessly stood like a rock with all the voters of all sections and all religions including the poor, rich, elderly, women, youth without any discrimination," Kumar, who held the press conference along with election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi at the National Media Centre in Delhi, said.

In an 85-minute speech, Kumar urged Gandhi to produce evidence of the alleged voter fraud or withdraw his remarks.

"There is no third option... If no declaration under oath given within seven days, claims will be considered baseless and invalid," Kumar said, doubling down on his arguments against Gandhi's claims, adding that those making unfounded allegations should apologise to the nation.

The CEC assured that the EC is working towards making SIR in Bihar a "huge success". "The truth is that step by step all the stakeholders are committed, trying and working hard to make the SIR of Bihar a complete success. When more than seven crore voters of Bihar are standing with the Election Commission, then neither can any question mark be raised on the credibility of the Election Commission nor on the credibility of the voters," Kumar said.