'Share documents': Karnataka CEO on Rahul Gandhi's 'vote chori' allegations
What's the story
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka has issued a notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking him to submit documents supporting his allegations of voter fraud in the Lok Sabha elections. The notice specifically refers to Gandhi's claim that one Shakun Rani voted twice in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment. "You are kindly requested to provide the relevant documents on the basis of which you have concluded that Shakun Rani or anyone else has voted twice," it said.
Fraud claims
Gandhi claimed 1 lakh votes stolen in Mahadevapura
Last week, Gandhi had alleged that over 1 lakh votes were "stolen" in Mahadevapura through methods such as duplicate entries and fake addresses. He urged the Election Commission to release digital voter rolls for public audit. "Our internal polling predicted 16 Lok Sabha seats for Congress in Karnataka; we won nine. In Mahadevapura alone, we found 100,250 votes stolen in five different ways," he said during a press conference on August 7.
Campaign strategy
Congress to take 'voter list manipulation' campaign national
The Congress party is now planning to take the issue national. A strategy meeting will be held on August 11 at its New Delhi headquarters, chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge. The meeting will focus on a campaign against "voter list manipulation and election fraud." Congress general secretary KC Venugopal called it a "do-or-die mission" to save Indian democracy, invoking Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India call.
Counterclaims
BJP responds to allegations
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also responded to Gandhi's allegations. Former Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali said Rani was from Panipat and lived at Purva Apartments. He accused Gandhi of misleading people by alleging Rani voted twice. "When I checked the roll with my BLA...we found that a person with the name Shakun Rani had voted only once," Limbavali said.