Bengaluru: The Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has issued a formal notice to Congress leader and Lok Sabha leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, asking him to furnish documentary evidence for his allegations of voter fraud in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The August 10 notice directly addresses Gandhi’s claim that a 70-year-old voter, Shakun Rani, had voted twice in the polls based on Election Commission of India (ECI) data.
A preliminary inquiry by the CEO’s office found that Rani had cast her vote only once, said the notice which added: “You are kindly requested to provide the relevant documents on the basis of which you have concluded that Shakun Rani or anyone else has voted twice, so that a detailed inquiry can be undertaken by this office.”
Issued by V Anbukumar, the CEO of Karnataka, it said the “preliminary enquiry conducted by this office also reveals that the tick marked document shown by you in the presentation is not a document issued by the polling officer.”
This latest development follows an earlier notice on August 7 in which the CEO asked Gandhi to sign an affidavit detailing his allegations of large-scale additions and deletions in the voter list in Karnataka. Gandhi had made those claims during a press conference in New Delhi the same day, accusing the ECI of “choreographing” the elections to benefit the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}This latest development follows an earlier notice on August 7 in which the CEO asked Gandhi to sign an affidavit detailing his allegations of large-scale additions and deletions in the voter list in Karnataka. Gandhi had made those claims during a press conference in New Delhi the same day, accusing the ECI of “choreographing” the elections to benefit the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}At that briefing, Gandhi alleged that in Mahadevapura constituency alone, 100,250 votes had been “stolen” through duplicate entries, fake addresses and bulk registrations at single locations. “This is Election Commission data. Interestingly, they haven’t denied the information. They haven’t told the voter list that Rahul Gandhi is talking about is wrong. Why don’t you say it’s wrong? Because you know the truth. You know that we know that you have done this across the country,” he said.
On Sunday, Gandhi has also taken his campaign to the public, launching the website votechori.in and asking citizens to join the demand for transparency. “Vote Chori is an attack on the foundational idea of ‘one man, one vote’. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections. Our demand from the EC is clear, be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them,” he wrote on X.
Karnataka deputy chief minister and state Congress president DK Shivakumar, who joined Gandhi at the ‘Vote Adhikar Rally’ in Bengaluru on August 8, has also filed a complaint with the CEO alleging voter fraud in Mahadevapura and Gandhinagar. “Vote theft not only happened in Mahadevapura, but across Karnataka,” he said. “We have requested the Election Commission to investigate the fraud and punish officials concerned, be it a block level officer or returning officer.” The CEO has asked Shivakumar to submit documentary evidence under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Adding to the political pressure, chief minister Siddaramaiah announced on Saturday that the state’s law department will examine the allegations and recommend legal action. “The advocate general will be instructed to conduct the investigation quickly and submit a report. But the Election Commission has full authority regarding the voter list,” he told journalists in Mysuru. Targeting the BJP, he added: “The BJP is making a mistake and lying. Our internal survey said we would win sixteen seats in the last Lok Sabha elections, but we won only nine. Rahul Gandhi has told everything along with witnesses. Is it possible for 80 people to live in one small room?”
On Gandhi's allegations on the EC, BJP MP and former Karnataka CM Basavraj Bommai said: "His allegations have become a damp squib. Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of Mahadevapura and the nation for misguiding the people of Karnataka and bringing discredit to the constitutional bodies like the Election Commission"