Chandigarh [India], August 17 : Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal on Sunday slammed the Election Commission of India, alleging that the poll body is stealing votes.
He demanded an apology from the ECI and stated that Rahul Gandhi has submitted many affidavits.
"The Election Commission's responsibility was to show transparency. Rahul Gandhi has already given the affidavits. The Election Commission is stealing votes. They should apologise for what they have done to the country," Pawan Bansal told ANI.
The Chief Election Commissioner of India on Sunday refuted allegations of "vote theft" by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and asked him to either furnish a signed affidavit or apologise to the nation for his remarks.
The CEC also termed the allegations of bias by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha as an "insult" to the Constitution of India.
"An affidavit will have to be given, or an apology should be made to the country. Teesra koi vikalp nahi (There is no third option.) If the affidavit is not received within 7 days, it means that all these allegations are baseless," CEC Gyanesh Kumar said while addressing mediapersons at a briefing at the National Media Centre in the national capital.
Rahul Gandhi had on August 7 addressed a press conference in New Delhi, in which he presented Congress' research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, a part of the Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency. Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes, including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations.
Rahul Gandhi further pointed out an instance of 80 people registered in a single address in Mahadevapura.
Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the poll body is "destroying evidence" through the directive deleting CCTV footage from polling booths. He alleged that the EC was 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.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar today said, "We saw a few days ago that photos of many voters were presented to the media without their permission. Allegations were made against them, and they were used. Should the Election Commission share the CCTV videos of any voter, including their mothers, daughters-in-law, or daughters? Only those whose names are in the voter list cast their votes to elect their candidate..."
Rahul Gandhi had alleged that "collusion" happened between the poll body and the BJP during the 2024 parliamentary elections, which resulted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing his third term. Congress won 99 seats out of 543 while BJP secured 240 seats.