New Delhi, July 24: Rahul Gandhi and the Election Commission (EC) were engaged in a war of words on Thursday over alleged “cheating” in a Karnataka constituency during last year’s Lok Sabha polls, with the Congress leader warning the poll authority that it will not get away with this “because we are going to come for you”.
A spokesperson of the EC wondered as to why such “baseless and threatening allegations are being made against the CEC and that too now”.
Gandhi said the Congress has “concrete, 100 per cent proof” that the EC allowed cheating in a constituency in the southern state during the Lok Sabha polls 2024 and warned the election watchdog that it will not get away with this “because we are going to come for you”.
Responding to Gandhi’s statement, the EC said it is “highly unfortunate” that rather than filing an election petition in accordance with section 80 of the Representation of the People Act, or if filed, awaiting the verdict of the high court, he has not only made “baseless allegations” but also “chosen to threaten” a constitutional body.
The EC spokesperson said as far as the Karnataka electoral rolls of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls are concerned, not a single appeal was filed with any of the district magistrates or the chief electoral officer of the state – a valid legal remedy available to the Congress under section 24 of the RP Act.
As far as the conduct of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is concerned, of the 10 election petitions, not a single one was filed by any losing Congress candidate as a legal remedy available to the party under section 80 of the RP Act, he pointed out.
Gandhi accused the EC of not functioning as the Election Commission of India and “not doing its job”.
Asked about the ongoing SIR of the electoral rolls in Bihar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s reported remarks that the option of boycotting the state Assembly polls, due later in the year, remains open, Gandhi told reporters that the Congress has “concrete, 100 per cent proof” that the EC allowed cheating in a seat in Karnataka.
“Not 90 per cent, when we decide to show it to you, it is a 100 per cent proof,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
“We just looked at one constituency and we found this. I am absolutely convinced that constituency after constituency, this is the drama that is taking place…. I want to send a message to the Election Commission — if you think you are going to get away with this, if your officers think they are going to get away with this, you are mistaken. You are not going to get away with this because we are going to come for you,” he said. (PTI)
