Will Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ attack on Election Commission undercut INDIA bloc’s SIR stance in Bihar? | India News

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi, long a fierce critic of the Election Commission of India (ECI), on Thursday presented what he called “criminal evidence” to back his “vote chori” charge in recent polls that left the Congress in tatters.In his presentation, the Lok Sabha leader of opposition alleged serious lapses in the electoral rolls of Mahadevapura assembly constituency, part of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat in Congress-ruled Karnataka.During a press briefing, Gandhi displayed a spiral-bound stack of documents, which he said were drawn from the “7-foot pile” of electoral rolls provided by the ECI. He alleged that votes were stolen in five ways: duplicate votes, fake or invalid addresses, bulk voters at a single address, invalid photos, and misuse of Form 6 (application to add a name to the voter list in India).

Rahul Gandhi with his “proof” at the press briefing.

Interestingly, just as Rahul presented his “proof,” the Karnataka chief electoral officer wrote to him, seeking the material he had shown to the nation along with an oath-bound declaration, as a prerequisite for the probe to begin.The poll body’s letter seeking Rahul’s declaration gave the rival BJP fresh ammunition, which accused the Congress leader of “threating the institution” and claimed that by flagging loopholes in the electoral rolls, the Raebareli MP had effectively endorsed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, which aims to tighten loose ends in the poll rolls.

Rahul Gandhi briefing the INDIA bloc allies at his house. (PTI photo)

Will Rahul submit a declaration?

Rahul Gandhi did not appear to budge on the EC notice, saying: “I’m saying it publicly to everybody. Take it as an oath. This is their data, and we are displaying their data. This is not our data.”

Rahul Gandhi with a document, which he claimed has a compilation of fake and invalid addresses enrolled in the electoral roll of Mahadevapura assembly constituency. (PTI photo)

On whether the Congress leader would submit a declaration to the ECI, Congress leader Udit Raj told TOI: “The Election Commission will try to find certain things in that, whether right or wrong. Then the BJP will take over that, and finally, they’ll try to dilute it. Why is the Election Commission not answering? Why will CCTV footage be destroyed in 45 days when data can be stored for 100 years? “He was referring to ECI’s order to state poll officers to destroy election CCTV, webcasting, and video footage 45 days after the results, if no court challenge is filed.

When asked if the Congress party would move the Supreme Court in case the deadlock with the Election Commission continues, the former Lok Sabha MP said: “Our court is public. The way one judge has made a frivolous and strange comment about Rahul Gandhi. BJP MP has said that China has encroached on the land. Ladakh people are crying, even satellite pictures have shown how much land has been encroached, and here the judge says: Give the proof. What to do? If there are certain judges like these, what to do? They will turn down.“However, he added, “definitely we believe in the institutions, provided that the institutions give justice. Institutions were created by Congress, but when institutions are subverted and pressure is built, then, of course, we have to fight, and finally, there’s a people’s court, which is the highest court for a political party.On the question of whether the INDIA bloc would boycott the upcoming election if the issue remains unresolved, he said: “We will resort to all kinds of methodologies to fight it out. Any option which is available within the framework of democracy, we will exercise that.”

Did the BJP ‘collude’ with ECI?

Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s “ECI colluding with BJP” charge, national BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari told TOI: “If ECI was colluding with the BJP, Rahul Gandhi would not have won his seat in Amethi, his sister would not have won her seat in Wayanad. Congress party government would not have been there in Telangana, Karnataka and the opposition government in Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.”When asked if the ECI should probe into Rahul’s claim, even if he refuses to submit the declaration, Bhandari said: “That is under the purview of the wisdom of the Election Commission.”He, however, added that in case the Congress leader refuses to submit the declaration along with his “proof”, it would become clear that Rahul Gandhi has “lied again”.“The Election Commission has asked Rahul Gandhi for an oath, and if he doesn’t give in writing it will be clear that, like he lied about Rafale, China-occupied Indian territory…Rahul Gandhi is yet again lying because he wants to divert attention from his imminent loss in Bihar,” Pradeep Bhandari told TOI.

Will SIR now get the INDIA bloc’s nod?

The opposition INDIA bloc has vehemently criticised the intensive roll revision in Bihar, questioning the timing of the exercise and the alleged “haste” with which the entire process is being conducted in the poll-bound state.“We are questioning the timing. 35 BLOs are sitting in one place, and they are filling up the form. So 70 per cent of voters have not been approved. On their behalf, forms have been filled up and are incomplete. In some places, “Trump and Dogbabu’s” names have appeared. Not even one booth is perfect,” Udit Raj alleged.

Countering Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of SIR, Pradeep Bhandari said: “Earlier, it was EVM, then the voter list went to Maharashtra, where the Bombay high court dismissed the plea. Now, a new thing has come, SIR. In the presentation that Rahul Gandhi showed, even there, Rahul inadvertently became a proponent of SIR rather than opposing it.”ALSO READ: ECI questions Rahul Gandhi’s ‘fake votes’ claim; cites Karnataka govt’s use of same rolls for caste census“Let Rahul Gandhi and the RJD go to the voters of Bihar with this as an agenda, we will go with our developmental agenda,” he said, adding: “Only person who should worry is Tejashwi Yadav, whose two voter IDs were found, and he is to answer how a leader of the opposition party in Bihar was holding two voter ID cards.”Whether Rahul Gandhi’s claims trigger a serious probe or fade into another round of political crossfire now rests in the court of public opinion.Notwithstanding, the episode has become a test of credibility for both sides, with its outcome likely to shape how future challenges to voter lists are addressed and how much trust the public places in the electoral process.