Bengaluru, 8 August: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday responded to the Election Commission’s demand for an affidavit on his allegations of electoral fraud by asserting that he had already fulfilled his constitutional duty by taking oath in Parliament.
“The Election Commission demands an affidavit from me. It says that I must take an oath. I have already taken the oath of the Constitution in Parliament,” Gandhi said while speaking in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
His remarks came a day after he launched a scathing attack on the poll body, accusing it of facilitating a “huge criminal fraud” in collusion with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The EC, in response to Gandhi’s charges of “vote chori” (vote theft), denied the accusations and challenged the Congress leader to provide concrete proof or stop making what it called “baseless” and “unfounded” allegations. Officials also requested a signed declaration detailing the instances of voter list manipulation cited by Gandhi.
On Thursday, the Congress leader claimed that in a Karnataka constituency, 1,00,250 votes had been fraudulently manipulated. He cited:
- 11,965 duplicate voters
- 40,009 voters with fake or invalid addresses
- 10,452 bulk or single-address voters
- 4,132 entries with invalid photos
- 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 meant for new registrations
Gandhi claimed that this “vote chori model” was not limited to Karnataka, but was being replicated across the country. He also called for judicial intervention, stating that “the democracy that we love so much, does not exist anymore.”
Calling the data gathered by the Congress party “criminal evidence”, Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission was actively erasing proof of voter fraud nationwide.
The controversy has reignited tensions between the opposition and the constitutional poll body, with Gandhi doubling down on his charges and the Commission demanding legal accountability.
