ECI sources countered Rahul Gandhi’s voter list tampering claims, noting that the Karnataka Congress government is using the same electoral rolls to conduct its caste census, highlighting a contradiction in the party’s stance.
New Delhi: Countering Rahul Gandhi’s claim of voter list manipulation, sources in the Election Commission of India (ECI) pointed out on Friday that the Congress-led Karnataka government itself relies on electoral rolls for its crucial caste census policy.
The ECI sources told ANI that yesterday, the Karnataka government decided to use the electoral roll as a base for conducting a caste survey.
“Congress Vouching for Same Rolls They Criticise”: ECI Sources
“At the same time, LoP (Rahul Gandhi) was dropping the Atom Bomb on Electoral Rolls, the Congress government, at the same time, vouching for the authenticity of the electoral rolls by basing their most important policy of caste census on the electoral rolls,” ECI sources said.
Rahul Gandhi Has Never Personally Communicated: ECI
“The reason is that in the past, he (Rahul Gandhi) has never sent any self-signed letter by himself. Whatever reply we give is to other entities, and every time, he disowns it. For example, he raised the Maharashtra issue on December 24. Some Advocate writes to us from AICC. Our reply dated 24 Dec 24 is on our website. But Rahul Gandhi says that we have never replied,” ECI sources said.
On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi said 1,00,250 “fake votes” were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka to ensure a win for the BJP.
ECI Asks Rahul to Sign Declaration or Apologise
ECI also asked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to sign the declaration by Chief Electoral Officers of Maharashtra and Karnataka or apologise for his “absurd” allegations, sources said.
ECI sources said, “If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration.”
ECI asked Rahul Gandhi to apologise if he does not sign the affidavits.
“If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations. In which case, he should apologise to the nation. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the Declaration or apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI,” sources said.