EC asks Rahul Gandhi to sign oath or apologise to nation over 'vote theft' claim

A day after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi lair out data allegedly proving clear irregularities in the electoral rolls in Karnataka during last year’s Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission (EC) on Friday (August 8) asked Rahul to either sign the sign the declaration/ oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 or apologise to the nation.

“If (Congress MP & LoP) Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration. If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations,” reported ANI, quoting EC sources.

“In which case, he should apologise to the nation. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the Declaration or apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI: ECI sources,” added the report.

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Rahul’s allegations against EC

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday presented what he termed "black and white proof" that elections in India were being systematically rigged by the Election Commission in collusion with the BJP. He referred to the Mahadevapura assembly segment in Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, where the Congress conducted a six-month physical verification of electoral rolls.

Rahul claimed that his team identified 1,00,250 fraudulent voters across five categories of electoral manipulation.

This included duplicate registrations. Rahul alleged that 11,965 persons registered as voters in multiple booths, including Gurkirat Singh Dang, registered in four different booths, and Aditya Srivastava registered across constituencies in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.

Also Read: Rahul alleges mega 'vote theft' with Mahadevapura data; will Cong boycott polls?

Invalid addresses and bulk registrations

He also raised the issue of alleged invalid addresses, saying 40,009 voters registered with fake or invalid addresses, including 80 voters listed at a single one-room apartment address and 68 voters registered at "153 Beer Club," a brewery where the individuals were found to be non-existent.

He further alleged that there were bulk registrations adding 10,452 voters registered at single addresses in suspicious bulk additions.

The former Congress president said that 4,132 voters were added without valid photographic identification.

Rahul alleged that 33,692 voters were inappropriately added through the new voter registration form, adding that many were not in the typical 18-25 age bracket for first-time voters.

Also Read: Share names of voters wrongfully included: Karnataka poll officer to Rahul

Impact on Election Results

Rahul claimed these irregularities directly affected the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha election outcome, where Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan lost by 32,707 votes to the BJP's PC Mohan. He alleged that Mohan's decisive 1,14,046-vote lead in Mahadevapura, despite Khan's success in other assembly segments, was the result of systematic voter manipulation.

The Congress leader extended his allegations to recent assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, claiming similar manipulation patterns. He noted that more voters were added to Maharashtra's rolls in the five months between the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections than in the previous five years combined.

Rahul also criticised the EC's refusal to provide machine-readable electoral roll data and recent rule changes allowing destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, calling these actions evidence of the commission's complicity in electoral fraud.

Also Read: Stonewalled in Parliament, Opposition to intensify protests against SIR

Official response and challenge

The Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer directly challenged Gandhi to make his allegations "on oath," while Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed the claims as a repetition of "a false report prepared by an NGO."

Gandhi responded defiantly, stating: "I have presented data from the EC's own records; these are not my documents... can they deny that these are not their records; my word is my oath."