Vote ‘chori’ row: EC repeats ‘sign declaration or apologise’ dare; adds ‘Rahul still has time’ | India News

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission, following notices from the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of Karnataka and Haryana, has reiterated that Rahul Gandhi “still has time” he should either submit a formal declaration supporting his “vote theft” allegations or “apologise to the country.”The Karnataka CEO has asked the Congress MP to submit documents to support his “vote theft” allegations against the Election Commission of India.In a letter dated August 10, the Karnataka CEO noted that Rahul Gandhi, during his August 7 press conference, claimed to have presented documents from ECI records alleging that a voter, Shakun Rani, voted twice based on data shown by a polling officer. The polling body said that in a preliminary inquiry, Shakun Rani denied voting twice, and the tick-marked document displayed by Rahul Gandhi was not issued by the polling officer, raising doubts about its authenticity.The Karnataka CEO has asked Rahul Gandhi to “provide the relevant documents” forming the basis of his allegation so that a detailed investigation can be carried out by the state’s electoral authorities.On August 7, citing internal analysis, the Leader of the Opposition said Congress had expected to win 16 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka but secured only nine. He said the party investigated seven unexpected losses, focusing on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 100,250 votes.“We found 100,250 votes stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, in a building with 50–60 people living. But when we go there, there is no record of those people living there. One family living in that house,” Rahul Gandhi said.The ECI, on Saturday, again asked the Congress MP to either give a declaration in line with the rules or apologise to the country for what it called “false” allegations about voter lists.