New Delhi [India], August 1 : The Election Commission of India on Friday rejected opposition claims of vote theft ahead of the Bihar elections, calling them baseless and irresponsible.
The EC said its officials should continue working fairly and transparently, without being affected by daily threats or false statements.
As per the statement from ECI, "Election Commission ignores such baseless allegations being made on a daily basis and despite threats being given daily, asks all election officials to ignore such irresponsible statements while working impartially and transparently."
The Election Commission of India has also responded to Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, saying he ignored official messages sent on June 12 and never raised any concerns through proper channels.
Terming his recent accusations and threats as "wild" and "deplorable."
As per the statement of ECI, "1. ECI sends a mail to him on 12 June 2025. He does not come. 2. ECI sends him a letter on 12 June 2025, he does not respond. 3. He has never sent any letter to ECI on any issue, whatsoever 4. It is very strange that he is making wild allegations and has now even started threatening EC and its staff. Deplorable ! 5. ECI ignores all such irresponsible statements and asks all its staff to continue working impartially and transparently."
Earlier in the day, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has levelled serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of direct involvement in large-scale voter fraud with the Congress having "open-and-shut proof" of the alleged theft.
Talking to reporters on the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the Congress leader alleged that the motive behind the voter fraud was to benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Rahul Gandhi said, "Votes are being stolen. We have open-and-shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in this vote theft. And I'm not saying this lightly, I'm speaking with 100% proof. And when we release it (proof), the entire country will come to know that the Election Commission is enabling vote theft. And who are they doing it for? They're doing it for the BJP."
Gandhi said that the findings of an investigation by the Congress amount to nothing short of an "atom bomb," with implications severe enough to shake the very foundations of the ECI.
"We had suspicion of voter theft, and we got into its granularity. Since the Election Commision was not helpful in the investigation, we did our own. It took six months and the things we found are an 'Atom Bomb' and when this atom bomb explodes you won't see Election Commission in the country," he added.
Taking a hardline stance, Gandhi warned individuals within the Commission and alleged the steps taken by the EC are "no less than treason."