Submit declaration under oath in 7 days, or claims will be considered invalid: CEC on Rahul's 'vote theft' allegations

Addressing a press conference, the CEC said that if anyone wishes to file a complaint without being a voter of that constituency, it can be done only as a witness under oath.

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday launched a counter attack on Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his 'vote chori' allegations, saying he has no other option but to submit his claims under oath in seven days or his claims will be considered "baseless".

In an unprecedented press conference by the Election Commission on a day Rahul launched a ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar, Kumar defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar saying parties were asking for purifying electoral rolls even as he rubbished allegations of irregularities elsewhere saying it is an “insult to the Constitution” if such claims are raised late.

Referring to the involvement of around one crore officials, two crore polling agents and ten lakh Booth Level Agents in the Lok Sabha poll process, Kumar also sought to dismiss doubts on the 2024 elections saying, “how can someone steal votes” in such a scenario and that “neither the EC nor any voter is afraid of such baseless accusations”.

“According to law, if errors in the voter list are not reported in time, if an election petition is not filed in the High Court within 45 days of a voter choosing their candidate, and then misleading attempts are made to confuse people by using wrong words such as ‘vote theft’, then what else can this be if not an insult to the Constitution of India?” he said.

Rahul had earlier this month alleged that the election to Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat was stolen through around one lakh ‘fake voters’ in Mahadevapura Assembly segment through five types of manipulation, including duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, single-address voters. Three Chief Electoral Officers asked Rahul to file an affidavit under oath but he refused.

“Should the EC issue notice to 1.5 lakh voters without declaration under oath by the complainant…There is no third alternative, an affidavit has to be filed in seven days. Otherwise the claims will be considered baseless and will have to apologise to the country,” Kumar said.

He did not mention Rahul by name or respond to repeated questions about the EC not seeking an oath from BJP’s Anurag Thakur, who has also raised similar allegations of vote theft in Opposition leaders’ seats.

Kumar, who was accompanied by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, said the draft electoral rolls in Bihar after SIR were prepared by the Booth Level Officers and Booth Level Agents and to remove anomalies, a month's time has been given and 15 days are still left” and “doors of the EC are open to everyone”. He said the draft electoral rolls prepared can have discrepancies and that is why a provision for correction is provided.

“On the ground, all voters, parties and BLOs are working together transparently, verifying records, and even providing video testimonials. It is a matter of serious concern that these verified voices of district presidents and BLAs are either not reaching their own state or national leaders, or, ignoring the ground reality, attempts are being made to spread confusion,” he claimed.

When asked, Kumar did not provide the number of foreigners or illegal immigrants whose names were found in the voters’ list in Bihar but said those identified as foreigners during the SIR will be probed by September 30. He also did not provide the number of people who have submitted the 11 prescribed documents along with enumeration forms during the SIR.