Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh) [India], September 18 : Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday accused the Election Commission of failing to conduct an investigation even after repeated complaints of voter list manipulation, alleging that constitutional institutions were being deliberately weakened.
His remarks came after the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, made fresh vote theft allegations against the ECI earlier today.
Speaking to ANI, Pilot said the party had submitted evidence of "vote theft" many times but received no response. "The shortcomings should be addressed. The voter list should be made available."
Referring to Rahul Gandhi's alleged irregularities in Karnataka's electoral rolls, Pilot said, "No action is being taken regarding what happened in Karnataka. Seeing all this, misconceptions are spreading in people's minds that constitutional institutions are being deliberately weakened."
Congress leader further said that the party has launched a nationwide campaign against vote theft and to raise awareness among citizens.
Earlier today, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Election Commission of India for allegedly "not cooperating" with the voter fraud investigation opened up by the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (Karnataka CID) in the Aland assembly segment in the Kalaburagi district.
The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has claimed that the investigation into the alleged fraud has been stalled for over 2 years as the poll body is not replying to the letters sent by the CID, calling it "proof" that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is "protecting vote chors (vote thieves)."
He further demanded the ECI to release the requested data within 1 week, as the Karnataka EC has also asked for the data but no reply was given. He has also alleged that a systematic conspiracy is ongoing to disenfranchise certain voters belonging to marginalised communities and vote for Congress.
"In election after election, someone, some group of people, have been systematically targeting voters for deletions across India. Different communities, mainly those who are voting for the opposition, Dalits, OBCs, adivasis, and minorities, are specifically targeted who vote for the Opposition. We had heard this many times, and now we found 100 per cent proof of it," he added.
Talking about the Aland constituency in Karnataka, the Lok Sabha's LoP alleged that there was an attempt to fraudulently delete around 6 thousand votes by unknown people through software and using mobile numbers outside Karnataka.