New Delhi, August 3: India’s Election Commission on Friday dismissed allegations by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accusing the poll body of facilitating “vote theft” in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), calling the claims “baseless” and “irresponsible”.
Gandhi, who leads the Congress party in the Lok Sabha as Leader of the Opposition, claimed he possessed “open and shut” evidence of electoral irregularities and warned the Election Commission it would have “no place to hide” once the evidence was made public. He likened the purported evidence to an “atom bomb”.
The allegations, Gandhi said, pertain to suspected tampering in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the 2024 national elections, and the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
In a strongly worded statement, the Election Commission refuted the claims and urged its staff to disregard such remarks. “The Commission ignores such baseless allegations being made on a daily basis, and despite the daily threats being given, asks all election officials to ignore such irresponsible statements and work in a fair and transparent manner,” the EC said.
The poll body further revealed it had contacted Gandhi via letter and email on June 12, inviting him to discuss any concerns, but received no reply. “He has never sent any letter to the ECI on any issue whatsoever. It is very strange that he is making wild allegations and has now even started threatening the EC and its staff. Deplorable,” the Commission stated.
Gandhi’s accusations come amid ongoing political tensions following a contentious general election earlier this year, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP retained power amid opposition claims of unfair practices — allegations the BJP and EC have consistently denied.
