'Misleading': Election Commission Fact Checks Rahul Gandhi On 'Vote Chori' Claims, Dares Him To Sign Declaration On Issues He Raised

The Election Commission of India (ECI) responded to Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi’s claims of vote theft by the constitutional body.

“The statements made are misleading,” the ECI said in a firm response.

In a statement shared on its X handle, the ECI said, “The INC’s plea for providing a machine-readable voter list was rejected by the Honourable Supreme Court in Kamal Nath vs. ECI, 2019.”

“Any aggrieved candidate can file an election petition to challenge their election in the concerned High Court within 45 days. If an election petition is filed, CCTV footage is retained; otherwise, it serves no purpose unless someone intends to breach voter privacy,” the statement added.

The ECI further stated that a legal outcome for the claims is practically impossible.

“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,” the ECI said.

“During the preparation of the Electoral Roll for LS-2024, hardly any appeals were filed by the INC across all 36 states and UTs under Section 24 of the RP Act, 1950,” it added.

The Election Commission also questioned Gandhi for never submitting a written complaint regarding his claims.

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

The constitutional authority responsible for conducting elections in India also challenged Rahul Gandhi to either sign a declaration on the issues he raised in a press conference regarding vote fraud or issue an apology to the nation.

The ECI listed two points:

a) If Shri Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and that his allegations against the election staff are true, he should have no problem submitting claims and objections against specific voters and signing the Declaration/Oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

b) If Shri Rahul Gandhi does not sign the declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis or resultant conclusions and is making baseless allegations. In that case, he should apologise to the nation.

The ECI’s post concluded, “Either sign the declaration on the issues you have raised in the press conference, which you believe to be true, or apologise to the nation.”

What Were Rahul Gandhi’s Accusations?

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of India of vote theft and posed five questions to the official body that conducts elections in India.

Here are the questions:

1. Why isn’t the opposition receiving the digital voter list? What are you hiding?
2. Why are CCTV and video evidence being erased? On whose orders?
3. Why is there fake voting and tampering with the voter list?
4. Why are opposition leaders being threatened and intimidated?
5. Tell us clearly - has the ECI now become an agent of the BJP?

Gandhi concluded his post by stating, "India's democracy is priceless - the consequences of its theft will be dire. Now the public is speaking - enough is enough!"

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