Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Even as the senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and other opposition leaders on Sunday began the 16-day “Voter Adhikar Yatra” from Sasaram in poll-bound Bihar, the Election Commission of India hardening its stand on Gandhi’s “Vote Chori” allegation served an ultimatum to either submit an affidavit or an apology to the nation for the allegation.
The Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar addressed a media conference within hours of Mr Gandhi launching the “Yatra” to protest against the ongoing “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) exercise of Bihar electoral rolls. Serving an ultimatum, Mr Kumar gave Mr Gandhi seven days’ time to take either of the course stating that nothing less than an affidavit on the matter or apology to the country will do.
“An affidavit will have to be given or an apology will have to be made to the country,” Mr Kumar said. “There is no third option. If the affidavit is not received within seven days, it means that all these allegations are baseless,” he added. Mr Gandhi’s allegations that the Election Commission was actively helping the BJP by inflating electoral rolls with fake voters in multiple ways and other malpractices has sparked a huge row.
He has alleged that a survey in Karnataka has found that six main irregularities were at play – same voter appearing multiple times in rolls, same voter in multiple states, non-existent addresses, bulk voters at a single address, indistinguishable photo on voter IDs and misuse of Form 6 for first-time voters. Earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi launched the 1,300-km ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Bihar’s Sasaram to step up the Opposition INDIA bloc’s campaign against alleged “Vote theft.” On the occasion, he said there was a “new conspiracy” to “steal” polls by deleting and adding voters through SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
The Election Commission has repeatedly denied the allegations and has been demanding that he submit an affidavit to back the allegations. The Commission has also fact-checked a video posted by the Congress, alleging that it was AI-generated and is meant to “mislead the voters of Bihar”.
“Electoral Rolls for each Assembly Constituency of Bihar are being prepared as per law and with full transparency,” the Commission said in a post on social media. The matter is pending in the Supreme Court which has asked the Commission to accept Aadhaar from anyone challenging the dropping of their names from the electoral rolls. The Commission has struck off 65 lakh names from its draft list, contending that they include people who have died, moved or are voters in multiple places.
Mr Kumar also said using “improper words” such as “vote chori” amounted to insulting the Constitution. He said the ECI was being used as a launchpad to target India’s voters for political motives. Mr Kumar said the poll body stands firmly with the voters.
Flanked by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, Mr Kumar said for the poll body, there was no difference between the ruling party and the Opposition. “Every party is the same for us,” he said, adding that the Election Commission would not step back from its constitutional responsibility.
He said the “SIR” exercise was launched in Bihar to address the demands of the political parties for corrections in the database. Mr Kumar said there is a month-long window to make objections to the draft voter list and appealed to political parties to flag any errors. “The doors of the Election Commission are always open for everyone equally,” he said.
All voters, political parties and booth-level officers are working transparently on the ground, the Chief Election Commissioner said. “It is a matter of concern that the voice of these representatives of political parties is either not reaching their parties’ leadership, or ground realities are being ignored in an attempt to spread misinformation.”
“As for a machine-readable voter list, the Supreme Court said in 2019 that this can lead to a breach of voter privacy. We saw some days back that photos of several voters were released in the media without their permission. Should the poll body share CCTV footage of any voter?” Mr Kumar asked.
“More than 1 crore officials, over 10 lakh booth-level agents and over 20 lakh polling agents work for a Lok Sabha election. Can anyone steal votes in front of so many people and with such a transparent process? Some allegations of double voting were made, but when we asked for proof, we got nothing. Such allegations scare neither the Election Commission nor any voter,” the Chief Election Commissioner said.
“When the Election Commission is being used as a launchpad to target voters for political reasons, we are making it clear that we stand firmly with all voters without any discrimination,” he said. In a press meet earlier this month, Mr Gandhi alleged vote fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Karnataka during the Lok Sabha election last year.
“In the whole country, Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are being stolen and their last conspiracy is to delete and add voters through SIR to steal the elections in Bihar,” Mr Gandhi alleged at the launch of the Yatra. “We will not let them steal the election in Bihar. People of Bihar will not let them steal elections. Poor only have the power of vote and will not let them steal polls,” he said.
In the wake of the allegations, the Karnataka poll body had asked Mr Gandhi to take an oath and submit a declaration that he had found irregularities in the voter list or withdraw his “fabricated evidence.” Asked about this, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, “If you are not voter of that constituency, then you have only one option in the law and that is The Registration Of Electors Rules, rule number 20, sub-clause (3), sub-clause (b) which says that if you are not an voter of that constituency, then you can lodge your complaint as a witness and you will have to give an oath to the electoral registration officer and that oath will have to be administered in front of the person against whom you have complained.”
Mr Kumar said the election body cannot stay silent if voters are insulted. Targeting Mr Gandhi said, “Affidavit has to be given or (he) must apologise to the nation. There is no third option. If we don’t receive an affidavit within seven days, it means these allegations are baseless.”
Regarding the involvement of political parties in the SIR, he said, “For the last 2 decades, all political parties have been demanding corrections in the Electoral Rolls. And to address this, the ECI has begun the Special Intensive Revision of Voter Rolls.” “To remove errors in the Draft List all voters and political parties are contributing,” he added.
Mr Kumar said there were several claims and objections given, and there is a period to file these claims and objections. “28370 claims and objections have been given. 15 days are left for filing objections and claims. The ECI asks all political parties, Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to submit claims and objections in these 15 days,” he said.
“On the ground level, all Booth Level Officers, BLAs and voters are working together, and they are also giving testimonials. But these testimonials are either not reaching the political parties, or a deliberate attempt is being made to spread misinformation,” the CEC said. “When all voters in Bihar are standing with ECI, then no aspersions can be cast on the poll body or voters,” he added.
Regarding the demand for machine-readable voter rolls, Mr Kumar said, “The Supreme Court in 2019 said that voter privacy can be breached. The ECI is not scared of false accusations. There is a difference between Machine-Readable voter lists and searchable by EPIC Electoral Rolls.”
Regarding correcting entries in the draft roll, the CEC said, “The ECI has been and will stand with voters of all communities. Form 6 is for claims for inclusion, Form 7 for challenging names and Form 8 for correction in entries in Draft Rolls.”
In response to a question regarding how many Bangladeshi, Nepali and Myanmar people were found during the enumeration process, the CEC responded saying, “An intensive probe will be conducted of the Enumeration Forms, and if it is found that some people are not Indian Citizens, they will not be part of the Electoral Rolls.”
Saying the ECI complied with the Supreme Court order, the CEC said, “Within 56 hours, the ECI has complied with the Supreme Court order of providing district-wise searchable lists of 65 lakh people whose names had been deleted.”
“Article 326 of the Constitution says that to be included in the Electoral Rolls, a person has to be an Indian citizen and 18 years of age,” the CEC said. “Names can be wrong in Electoral Lists, but this is not the same as wrong voting. One person can vote only once. If you mix the two and say that votes are being stolen, then it is wrong,” he said.
“If accusations are against 1,50,000 people, then should all these voters be given notices without any evidence? You have to give an affidavit or apologise to the nation. If the affidavit is not given within 7 days, then it means the allegations are wrong.”
Addressing the media after the Chief Election Commissioner’s remarks, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera said the poll body chief did not answer the Opposition’s questions.
