Rahul has received a notice from the Karnataka poll body concerning his claims about 'voter theft.'

On Sunday, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka formally reached out to Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, requesting that he provide documentary proof for his claims of voter fraud in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This notice came after Gandhi alleged that a 70-year-old voter named Shakun Rani had cast her vote twice, according to data from the Election Commission of India (ECI). However, a preliminary investigation by the CEO’s office revealed that Rani had only voted once. The notice stated, “We kindly ask you to submit the relevant documents that support your conclusion that Shakun Rani or anyone else has voted more than once, so we can conduct a thorough inquiry.” Signed by V Anbukumar, the CEO of Karnataka, the notice also pointed out that the document Gandhi referenced in his presentation was not one issued by the polling officer. This notice follows an earlier one from August 7, where the CEO requested Gandhi to sign an affidavit outlining his allegations of significant changes to the voter list in Karnataka. Gandhi made these claims during a press conference in New Delhi on the same day, accusing the ECI of “choreographing” the elections to favor the BJP. During that briefing, he claimed that in the Mahadevapura constituency alone, 100,250 votes had been “stolen” through duplicate entries, fake addresses, and mass registrations at single locations. “This is based on election commission data. Interestingly, they haven’t denied this information. They haven’t disputed the voter list that I’m talking about. Why not say it’s wrong? Because you know the truth. You know that we know what you’ve done across the country,” he asserted. On Sunday, Gandhi took his campaign to the streets, launching the website “votechori.in” and urging citizens to rally for transparency. He stated, “Vote Chori is an assault on the core principle of ‘one man, one vote’. Having a clean voter roll is essential for ensuring free and fair elections. Our message to the Election Commission is straightforward: be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that both the public and political parties can audit them,” he shared on X. Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president DK Shivakumar, who joined Gandhi at the “Vote Adhikar Rally” in Bengaluru on Friday, has also lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer, alleging voter fraud in Mahadevapura and Gandhinagar. “Vote theft didn’t just occur in Mahadevapura; it happened all over Karnataka,” he remarked. “We’ve asked the Election Commission to look into this fraud and hold accountable the officials involved, whether they’re block-level officers or returning officers.” The CEO has requested Shivakumar to provide documentary evidence as per the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. In response to Gandhi’s claims against the Election Commission, BJP MP and former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai commented, “His allegations have fallen flat. Rahul Gandhi owes an apology to the people of Mahadevapura and the nation for misleading the citizens of Karnataka and tarnishing the reputation of constitutional bodies like the Election Commission.”

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