Provide relevant documents: Karnataka chief poll officer to Rahul Gandhi on his ‘vote theft’ claim

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V. Anbukumar has issued a notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asking him to produce relevant documents to support his “vote fraud” claim.

The CEO also underlined that the documents, which Rahul Gandhi showed in the August 8 conference, were not official.

The notice addressed to Rahul Gandhi stated, “In your press conference, you have stated that the documents shown in your presentation are from the records of the Election Commission of India. You said: ‘This is EC data’. You have also stated that as per the records given by the polling officer, Smt. Shakun Rani has voted twice. You have said; ‘Es ID card per do baar vote laga hai, wo jo tick hai, polling booth ke officer ki hai”. (Two votes are given in this Voter ID card. The tick is made by the polling officer).”

“On inquiry, Smt. Shakun Rani has stated that she has voted only once and not twice, as alleged by you,” the CEO stated.

“Therefore, you are kindly requested to provide the relevant documents based on which you have concluded that Smt. Shakun Rani or anyone else has voted twice, so that a detailed inquiry can be undertaken by this office,” the CEO said.

Addressing a massive gathering during the ‘Our Vote, Our Right, Our Fight’ rally against alleged election fraud, Rahul Gandhi had demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) provide the electronic voters’ list for the past 10 years along with video recordings.

Rahul Gandhi said that if the ECI is “withholding” data, it indicates “collusion” with the BJP in committing “electoral fraud”.

“The Election Commission must understand that even if you don’t provide the data, we can still uncover irregularities in 15 to 20 Lok Sabha seats. We already have the information. You can’t hide and escape. One day, you will have to face the opposition. Each officer and the Commission must be aware of this,” he warned.

Rahul Gandhi had said, “If you (ECI) attack the ‘One Man, One Vote’ right enshrined in the Indian Constitution, we will attack you.”

IANS