‘Give complaint on oath or apologise to nation’: ECI ticks off Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to either sign a declaration and file a formal complaint on alleged electoral lapses which he believes are true or else apologise to the nation. 

In an indirect reference to the Congress leader’s allegation of ‘vote theft’ by the poll panel in Karnataka, the ECI said, “If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against the election staffs are true, he should have no problem in submitting claims and objections against specific voters and sign the declaration/oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.”

“If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis, resultant conclusions and is making absurd allegations. In which case he should apologise to the nation,” he said.

“Therefore, either sign the declaration on issues you have raised in the press conference which you believe is true or else apologise to the nation,” said the ECI.

“Many such allegations are being made by Rahul Gandhi and are being reported by the media, despite no written complaint ever being submitted by him. In the past as well, he has never personally sent a self-signed letter… For example, he raised the Maharashtra issue in December 2024. Subsequently, an advocate from AICC wrote to ECI. Our reply, dated December 24, 2024, is publicly available on ECI website. Yet, Rahul Gandhi claims that ECI never responded,” said the ECI.

The ECI also issued a fact check to refute claims made by Leader of Opposition in Parliament on Friday, in a fresh post on X, about alleged lapses and non-cooperation by the poll panel.

Accusing Rahul Gandhi of making misleading statements, the ECI said: “INC plea of providing machine readable voter list was rejected by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kamal Nath vs ECI, 2019.”

The clarification was made in response to the Congress leader’s claim that the ECI was hiding something by denying digital voter list to the Opposition.

On his allegation of erasing of CCTV and video evidence of polling, the ECI said, “Any aggrieved Candidate can file an election petition (EP) to challenge his election in the concerned High Court within 45 days. If an EP is filed, CCTV footage is retained; otherwise, it serves no purpose unless someone intends to breach voter privacy.”

For example, reviewing CCTV footage from 1 lakh polling stations would take 1 lakh days-that's approximately 273 years-with no legal outcome possible, it said.

Earlier, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha took to X and posed questions to the poll panel.

“Election Commission, there are 5 questions - the country demands answers: 1. Why isn't the opposition getting the digital voter list? What are you hiding? 2. CCTV and video evidence are being erased - why? On whose orders? 3. Fake voting and tampering with the voter list - why? 4. Threatening and intimidating opposition leaders - why? 5. Tell us clearly - has the ECI now become an agent of the BJP?” asked Rahul Gandhi.

India's democracy is priceless - the consequences of its theft will be dire. Now the public is speaking - enough is enough, said Rahul Gandhi.

The ECI responded by accusing the Congress of trying to rake up an issue which did not catch its attention earlier.

“During preparation of Electoral Roll in LS-2024, hardly any appeals were filed by INC across all 36 States & UTs under Section 24 of RP Act 1950,” it said.

--IANS

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