‘Lock put only after theft’: Rahul Gandhi on new ‘e-sign’ feature for voter deletion on EC portal

Following a news report about a new ‘e-sign’ feature rolled out by the Election Commission, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar introduced the measure for voter deletion only after the alleged “vote theft” in Karnataka’s Aland.

Earlier in the day, The Indian Express reported that the new feature on the ECINET portal and mobile application required those seeking to register as voters, or applying for deletion and corrections, to verify their identity using their Aadhaar-linked phone numbers.

Prior to this, applicants could submit forms on the Election Commission application and portal after linking a phone number with an existing Electors Photo Identity Card number, or EPIC number. No verification had to be done of whether the details indeed belonged to them.

The e-sign feature was not present till Monday but could be seen on the ECINET portal on Tuesday while submitting forms, according to The Indian Express.

Sharing the news report on social media, Gandhi said: “Gyanesh ji, we caught the theft and only then did you remember to put a lock – now we’ll catch the thieves too. So tell us, when are you going to give the evidence to the CID [Karnataka Police’s Criminal Investigation Department]?”

ज्ञानेश जी, हमने चोरी पकड़ी तब आपको ताला लगाना याद आया - अब...

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