Washim (Maharashtra) [India], August 8 : Amid political chaos over the allegations of "vote theft" against the Election Commission (EC), Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) or NCP SP MLA Rohit Pawar on Friday said that people are thinking that the EC is an extended department of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"With proof, Rahul Gandhi highlighted a lot of things about the Election Commission yesterday, and people are now thinking that the Election Commission is an extended department of the BJP," Pawar told reporters here.
The NCP SP MLA said that many people had raised objections to the election process following the results of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.
Pawar claimed that those who were elected as MLAs were also "surprised" by the results of the assembly elections.
"We saw how people were celebrating during the results of the Lok Sabha elections, while no one came out during the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Those who were elected were also surprised. Somewhere, many people had raised objections to the election process. This was in people's minds," he added.
Doubling down on his 'vote theft' claim, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi today said that times would change and punishment would surely be meted out to those who were involved in the "scam".
"Vote theft is not just an electoral scam; it is a major betrayal committed against the Constitution and democracy. Let the nation's culprits hear this - times will change, punishment will surely be meted out," Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X.
Gandhi earlier said that 1,00,250 "fake votes" were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka to ensure a win for the BJP.
Taking the reporters through a detailed presentation of the 'fraud' at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, the LoP alleged that "collusion" had happened between the Election Commission of India and the BJP, which resulted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing his third term.
"Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with just a margin of 25 seats...Election Commission is helping BJP destroy the electoral system in India...The Election Commission is not giving us the data because of what we did in Mahadevpur (Karnataka Assembly constituency); if we do it in other Lok Sabha seats, then the truth about our democracy will come out. This is the evidence, criminal evidence (pointing to the physical voter list)," Rahul Gandhi said.
The Congress leader further alleged that the poll body is "destroying evidence" through the directive on only preserving CCTV and webcasting footage of the election process for only 45 days after the whole process is completed, unless the election result is challenged in court.
Taking cognisance of Gandhi's allegations of voter roll manipulations in a Karnataka Assembly segment, the State Chief Electoral Officer asked him to submit his evidence under oath.
On his allegations of "voter fraud" in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has also asked the Leader of Opposition to submit a sworn affidavit and provide specific evidence of alleged inclusion or deletion of electors from the voter rolls.