Rahul Gandhi
NEW DELHI: The seven-day deadline set by Election Commission (EC) for Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to submit an affidavit along with evidence to back his ‘vote chori’ allegations with respect to Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana and Bihar has ended, with no sign of any signed declaration from the Congress functionary.Chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar had, while serving the ultimatum to Rahul at a press conference on Aug 17, said that he should either submit a declaration under oath, along with proof of electoral roll irregularities alleged by him, or apologise to the nation, as his ‘vote theft’ claims would then be rendered baseless.With no evidence or declaration forthcoming from Rahul, the second option has, by default, become valid, said a source. “Rahul’s ‘vote theft’ claims stand invalidated, not meriting any further proceedings by the chief electoral officers (CEOs) concerned,” said an EC official.However, the poll body is unlikely to release any formal statement or make further comments in this regard.Explaining the procedure for pointing out errors in electoral rolls, Kumar had, at the Aug 17 press conference, said an elector of any assembly constituency (AC) or booth level agents (BLAs) appointed by parties can file claims and objections on the draft voter list with the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) – a state govt employee who is also the electoral registration officer (ERO) – or use the two-point appellate process to get corrections made after the final electoral roll is published. “If one does not point out errors within the timelines and also fails to file an election petition within 45 days to challenge the result and yet tries to mislead voters with false allegations of ‘vote chori’, is this not a subversion of the Constitution?” the CEC had asked.”A lie, if repeated several times, does not become a truth,” he had noted.Elaborating on EC’s insistence on a signed declaration from Rahul, the CEC had explained that any elector from an AC has the right to complain about exclusion; similarly, BLAs can also complain under oath. “But if the complainant is not a voter in that AC and is making serious allegations about the exclusion of 1.5 lakh voters while calling EC a ‘chor’, it warrants an escalated response as per Rule 20(3)(b),” he underlined.
