Rahul Gandhi responds to Election Commission notices: ‘Attempt to distract from electoral irregularities’

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that the notices the Election Commission is sending him regarding his ‘vote chori’ allegation are meant to distract from the main issue of alleged irregularities in India’s electoral rolls for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"It is their (Election Commission) data. It is not my data that I will sign (an affidavit)... Put that data on your website and you will get to know. All this is just to distract from the issue. This has not just taken place in Bengaluru but several other constituencies too..." Rahul Gandhi told reporters.

The Congress MP was responding to the Election Commission's notices to him. The poll panel had urged Gandhi to declare the allegations under oath.

The Karnataka CEO has directed the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha to provide all the “relevant documents” on the basis of which he made the claims.

Earlier in the day, Opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, took out a protest march on Monday from Parliament House to the Election Commission against the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged "vote chori" but were stopped midway by the police and detained amid high drama.

“See the condition of India's democracy. 300 MPs wanted to meet the Election Commission to present a document, but they were not allowed. They are scared. What if 300 MPs come and their truth is revealed? This fight is not political anymore,” Gandhi said.

The Congress MP said this fight is for the Constitution and for One Man, One Vote. We have clearly shown in Karnataka that it was Multiple Man, Multiple Vote. The entire opposition is fighting against this. It will be very difficult for the Election Commission to hide now," he said.

He claimed these included nearly 12,000 duplicate voters, 40,000 with fake or invalid addresses, over 10,000 registered at the same address, 4,100 with invalid photos, and around 34,000 misusing Form 6 for new voters.