Gandhi Alleges ‘Vote Theft’ Under ECI Watch; Ludhiana West By-Poll Challenged

At a meeting of opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) led by Indian National Congress (INC), to discuss Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls in Bihar and Vice-Presidential elections on 7 Jul, INC leader Rahul Gandhi presented what he called the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 'vote theft' in Karnataka. Gandhi said INC’s study of Mahadevapura segment of Bangalore Central Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) constituency during the national elections in 2024 has found six irregularities to increase over one hundred thousand voters in just that segment. The irregularities are: same voter appearing multiple times in rolls, same voter in multiple states, non-existent addresses, bulk voters at a single address, indistinguishable photo on voter IDs and misuse of Form 6 for first-time voters. The BJP had won this election with a margin of 2.4% votes. On the same day, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) wrote to Gandhi asking him to submit a formal declaration under oath backing his vote theft charge, along with the names of electors allegedly wrongfully included in the voter list. This is both wrong and ironic because there is no provision in ECI’s rules to take oath on data that is 15 months old and all of Gandhi’s evidence is based on ECI’s own data. The only ECI rule that comes close is Rule Number 20 (3, clause B) Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 which says any issue with electoral rolls must be brought up under oath within 30 days of publishing the rolls. The BJP has jumped into defence of ECI which indicates collusion. On 11 Aug, the INDIA bloc leaders boycotted Parliament and marched towards the ECI office but were detained by the Delhi police. Panjab INC chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring supported Gandhi. Concurrently, in Ludhiana West constituency, petitioner Jaswinder Singh Malhi has filed a case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to declare Aam Aadmi Party’s winner candidate Sanjeev Arora’s election as Member of Legislative Assembly void because his expenses vastly exceeded limits set by ECI (earlier coverage).