'Sign Under Oath': Karnataka CEO Demands Signed Declaration From Rahul Gandhi Following His 'Vote Chori' Remarks

Bengaluru: The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka in a strongly worded letter has asked the Leader of Opposition and Congress Rahul Gandhi to sign an affidavit for the poll authorities to initiate "necessary proceedings" in the matter. 

He has also asked Rahul Gandhi to share names of electors he claimed were either included or excluded wrongfully from the voters' list of the state.

"It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls cited at Para 3," reads the letter.

It states further, "You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed declaration/oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated."

'Elections are Choreographed': Rahul Gandhi Alleges 1 Lakh Votes 'Stolen' in Karnataka's Mahadevapura Assembly 

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a press conference, alleged large-scale vote fraud in electoral rolls and called the elections "choreographed."

He presented Congress' research on how election took place in Mahadevpura Assembly in Karnataka, and alleged "vote chori" of 1,00,250 votes.

Rahul Gandhi affirmed that Congress won other seats while Mahadevapura was swept away by the BJP and this seat was key to BJP win.

"Elections are choreographed... Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We chose one Lok Sabha, and our team decided we could only focus on one Vidhan Sabha (seat). So we focused on Mahadevapur. Here is the broad math. All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission. Total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one. This seat wins them the election."

"Invalid photos...Then the misuse of Form 6. Form 6 allows new people to become voters," he added. Rahul Gandhi said that anti-incumbency hit every party but the BJP, which was seen in the Haryana and Madhya Pradesh polls.

He said, "Anti-incumbency hits every single party in every democracy, but for some reason, the BJP is the only party that does not suffer from anti-incumbency in a democracy. Exit polls and opinion polls say one thing, but you saw in the Haryana and MP elections, and suddenly the results go in another direction with a massive swing. This also included our internal polling, which is sophisticated. 

“Flagging polling in multiple phases”, he added, “There was a time in India with no EVMs; people voted on one day. Now, UP has a different voting day, and Bihar has some other day. Voting goes on for a month. This made us suspicious. Suddenly, the dates of the Haryana and Karnataka elections were changed.”

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