CEC Demands Affidavit or Apology from Rahul Gandhi

• CEC Gyanesh Kumar demands Rahul Gandhi file affidavit or apologise within 7 days.
• Says failure to submit affidavit will prove allegations are baseless.
• Rahul accuses EC of inflating rolls with fake voters, citing six irregularities.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 17th Aug: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday took a tough stance against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent “vote theft” allegations, declaring that only an affidavit or an apology to the nation would suffice.

“An affidavit will have to be given or an apology will have to be made to the country. There is no third option. If the affidavit is not received within seven days, it means all these allegations are baseless,” Mr Kumar said.

Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of aiding the BJP by inflating electoral rolls with fake voters and engaging in malpractices. He claimed a Karnataka survey had revealed six major irregularities:

• Same voter appearing multiple times in rolls
• Voter names registered in multiple states
• Non-existent or fake addresses
• Bulk voters under a single address
• Blurred or indistinguishable photographs on voter IDs
• Misuse of Form 6 for first-time voters

The Congress MP alleged that these irregularities pointed towards a systematic effort to manipulate elections.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi launched his 1,300-km ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram in Bihar, a campaign under the INDIA bloc to raise awareness about alleged “vote theft.” Addressing supporters, he claimed there was a “new conspiracy” to rig elections through Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, involving large-scale deletion and addition of voters.

The Election Commission’s strong rebuttal underscores growing tensions between the poll body and the opposition, ahead of crucial state and national elections.