'Investigate, don't intimidate': Congress hits back at CEC Gyanesh Kumar over PC on Rahul Gandhi's 'vote theft' claims
Jairam Ramesh hit back at the CEC, claiming this is the ‘first time’ that ‘new’ ECI was speaking instead of ‘planted sources’
“Simple advice to the CEC: investigate, don't intimidate": Congress's Jairam Ramesh said, hitting back at Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, over the Election Commission's press conference on Rahul Gandhi's “vote theft” claims.
The Congress MP claimed that it is for the first time that "new" ECI was speaking instead of "planted sources".
Jairam Ramesh's comments come after CEC Gyanesh Kumar rebuked Rahul Gandhi over his ‘vote chori’ allegation and asked him to either sign an affidavit or apologise to the nation for his remarks, which he described as an ‘insult’ to the Constitution of India.
The CEC made the comments while addressing a press conference in New Delhi, on Sunday, countering Rahul Gandhi's recent "vote theft" allegations on ECI and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar.
EC's briefing took place the same day Rahul Gandhi launched his 1,300 km-long 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' from Bihar's Sasaram to step up the Opposition INDIA bloc's campaign against its "vote chori" (vote theft) claims.
What did CEC say?
- Besides asking Rahul Gandhi to sign an affidavit, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that if the Congress leader is unable to give the affidavit within 7 days, it means his “allegations are baseless.”
- Gyanesh Kumar also addressed the issue about duplicate voter ID cards, and explained how it could happen.
- Referring to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, the CEC said the “exercise is being carried out after receiving many complaints from political parties.”
‘Vote Chori’ Row
- Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi alleged “vote chori” (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes in Karnataka’s Mahadevpura Assembly segment, by the ruling party.
- The Congress leader claimed there were 11,965 duplicate entries, 40,009 voters with fake or invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk or single-address voters, and 4,132 entries with invalid photographs.
- To step up the claims, Rahul Gandhi also launched his 1,300 km-long 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' from poll-bound Bihar's Sasaram, on Sunday.
- “The Election Commission asked me to submit affidavit after my presser on ‘vote chori’ but did not ask BJP leaders to do so when they made claims,” Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday.