EC should have probed Rahul Gandhi’s vote theft charge instead of ‘shouting’ at him, says ex-CEC

The Election Commission should have ordered an investigation into the allegations of vote theft raised by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, instead of “shouting” at him in “objectionable and offensive” language, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi told PTI on Sunday.

While several of the terms used by Gandhi, such as “hydrogen bomb”, were “political rhetoric”, the allegations he had raised should be investigated, Quraishi said during an interview with the news agency.

On September 1, Gandhi said his party will soon release a “hydrogen bomb” of evidence on alleged voter fraud, claiming that after the disclosure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would “not be able to show his face to the country”.

Speaking at the concluding event of his Voter Adhikar Yatra in Patna, Gandhi repeated his allegations that votes were “stolen” in Maharashtra during the Assembly election and in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency during the 2024 parliamentary elections.

The Election Commission, however, has rejected these allegations. On August 14, it described Gandhi’s claims regarding Mahadevapura as “false and misleading”.

Two days later, the poll panel said that political parties or individuals who had concerns about electoral rolls prepared in the past should have raised them during the claims and objections period.

It did not name any political party or person in the statement.

The Election...

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