Election Commission repeats Rahul's allegations 'false'

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) called Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of discrepancies in the electoral roll of an Assembly constituency in Karnataka “false and misleading”, dismissing the same.

On Wednesday, the poll body claimed that any correction, deletion or inclusion in the electoral rolls can only be made as per the procedures prescribed by the law. Saying so on a social media post, the EC also claimed that no one can “force” the removal of a person’s name without following due process, Scroll reported.

The poll body said if anyone actually believes in any of Rahuhl’s analysis and allegations of wrongful inclusion of any names, they should share such evidence with the ERO [electoral registration officer]. However, they should furnish a signed declaration and oath under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the ECI said.

According to Rahul Gandhi, his party spent six months examining the electoral rolls in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency, where he alleged discrepancies in more than one lakh voter names. He accused the EC of colluding with the BJP in “vote theft” in the constituency.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday to accept the Aadhaar card as an acceptable document for proving identity in the Bihar Assembly polls. A day ago, the court had said that Aadhaar cannot be taken as a conclusive document for citizenship.

The court also directed the poll body to publish details of voters removed from the electoral rolls and the reason for their deletion, Times of India reported.