Taking a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the opposition over allegations of ‘vote theft’, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday said that under the law, if errors are not reported within 45 days of electing a public representative and no petition is filed in the Supreme Court, then using terms like ‘vote theft’ to mislead people amounts to an insult to the Constitution.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, CEC Kumar said, “Under the law, if errors are not reported within 45 days of electing a public representative, and no petition is filed in the Supreme Court, then using terms like ‘vote theft’ to confuse people amounts to disrespecting the Constitution.”
EC Slams Opposition Over SIR Row
CEC Kumar also criticised the opposition over their objections to the Special Summary Revision (SIR) in Bihar, saying that when more than seven crore voters have expressed confidence in the Election Commission, questions cannot be raised on the credibility of either the Commission or the voters themselves.
“The doors of the Election Commission are always open for everyone equally. At the ground level, all the voters, all the political parties and all the booth-level officers are working together in a transparent manner, verifying, signing and also giving video testimonials. It is a matter of serious concern that these verified documents, testimonials of the district presidents of political parties and the BLOs nominated by them are either not reaching their own state-level or national-level leaders or an attempt is being made to spread confusion by ignoring the ground reality. 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,” CEC Kumar said.
EC Refutes Allegations Of Double Voting
Strongly refuting recent allegations of double voting during elections, CEC Kumar said the Election Commission is unafraid of such baseless accusations and asserted that the poll body stands united with voters, irrespective of religion or economic status, and will continue to do so.
“Some voters alleged double voting. When asked for proof, no answer was given. Neither the Election Commission nor any voter is afraid of such false allegations. 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 the Election Commission 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, is standing and will continue to stand,” CEC Kumar said.
EC On Refusal To Share CCTV Footage From Polling Stations
Defending the Election Commission’s decision not to share CCTV footage from polling stations, CEC Kumar cited voter privacy.
“We saw a few days ago that photos of many voters were presented to the media without their permission. Allegations were made against them, they were used. Should the Election Commission share the CCTV videos of any voter, including their mothers, daughters-in-law or daughters? Only those whose names are in the voter list cast their votes to elect their candidate,” CEC Kumar said.
Rahul Gandhi’s Vote Theft Allegations
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly alleged large-scale “vote theft,” during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura Assembly constituency. Gandhi claims that fake and duplicate entries were added to the voter list, and pointed to irregularities such as duplicate voters, invalid addresses, multiple registrations on the same property, and misuse of voter registration forms.
The Election Commission has challenged Gandhi to either sign a formal declaration or apologise for his allegations.
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