CEC rebuts Rahul's charges in detailed presser, debunks claims on zero house number to machine-readable list

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday punched holes in multiple claims of the Congress party, particularly pertaining to ‘vote chori’, voters with zero house number, manipulation of electoral rolls and also explained the rationale behind the inability to provide machine-readable voter list.

In what looked like a point-by-point rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi’s charges, CEC Gyanesh Kumar explained why the electors with zero house numbers in the voters list were not fraudulent entries and why the controversy around 22 lakh ‘sudden deaths' in Bihar electoral rolls wasn’t justified.

On electors with zero house numbers

Rahul Gandhi, in his special press conference on ‘vote chori’ recently claimed that there were many fake addresses in the Bangalore Central seat, as many electors had their house numbers mentioned as zero, and he called it a deceit by the poll body.

Explaining this charge, the CEC said that such situations exist in villages as well as towns because house numbers haven’t been allotted to them by the Village panchayats or Municipalities.

“In many urban centres, a large number of unauthorised colonies don’t have house numbers. As per EC norms, they are given notional numbers, and when entered in the system, they round off as zero. In addition to this, many homeless people, registered as voters, also have their house addresses mentioned as zero,” CEC Gyanesh Kumar said.

“If somebody claims that they are fraud voters, then it is an insult to democracy. EC stands behind them and will ensure that they get their right to vote,” he added.

On Maharashtra ‘vote theft’ charge

Congress party and Rahul Gandhi, on multiple occasions, have accused the poll panel of doing fraud in Assembly elections, including Maharashtra, saying that the sudden increase in the number of electors between the May 2024 Lok Sabha elections and November 2024 Assembly elections and the upsurge in polling after 5 p.m. on that day led to their defeat. It had also demanded that the EC hand over the videography of the polling day.

Rahul, speaking to reporters, had said that 1 crore voters were added between two elections, and this was clear proof of 'match-fixing' in elections.

Replying to this charge, the CEC said that political parties kept sleeping when the electoral rolls were prepared and put to scrutiny. Even after 8 months of elections, no petition has been filed in the Supreme Court.

He also informed that every hour, an average of 10 per cent voting happens on polling day, and in the last hour on polling day, it was less than 10 per cent.

Without naming Rahul Gandhi, Kumar said that making accusations months after results are declared, without due process, undermines public trust.

“When 45 days have passed and no party or candidate has challenged the results, what is the aim of levelling baseless allegations now? The public understands this,” he said.

On Rahul Gandhi being asked to file an affidavit under oath

In his much-publicised presser, LoP Rahul had claimed that at least 1 lakh votes were rigged in Karnataka, resulting in the victory of the BJP on the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat.

Shedding light on the electoral precedent, the CEC explained that if someone is not an elected representative of any particular region, then one can submit his complaint, but he will also need to submit his allegations under oath, before the Electoral officer.

On the sudden death of 22 lakh electors in the voter list

Debunking the claims of the sudden deaths of 22 lakh electors in Bihar’s voter list, Gyanesh Kumar said that it was not a sudden appearance of 22 lakh deaths in the electoral rolls, but these are the people who were left unaccounted for the past 20 years.

He admitted that the system was not foolproof and such a humongous exercise required the active contribution and support of BLOs as well as BLAs, appointed by political parties.

On why the machine-readable list not provided by EC

A couple of Congress leaders have accused the EC of bias in providing a machine-readable copy of the voter list.

Replying to this charge, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said sharing machine-readable voter list is banned since the 2019 verdict of the Supreme Court, as the entries and photos can be tinkered with.

“We recently saw some media reports displaying voter lists with photos of electors without consent – which is a breach of privacy,” he said.

He also explained that the machine-readable voter list is different from the searchable voter list, which is available on the ECI, where a voter can enter his details to check if his name is in the voter list.

On why SIR being conducted two months before the polls

The CEC said that the SIR process started on June 24 and was completed in July, and the purpose was to cleanse the electoral rolls, as should be done to strengthen the democratic set-up.

“In 2003, SIR was also conducted in Bihar in one month,” he informed.

He further stated that with over seven crore voters in Bihar participating, the credibility of neither the Election Commission nor the voters could be questioned.

He warned against irresponsible remarks such as “vote theft,” calling them an insult to the Constitution.

--IANS

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