Dismissing Rahul Gandhi's allegations of "vote chori" against the Election Commission (EC), Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday asked the Congress leader either to file his charges in a sworn affidavit within seven days or apologize to the nation.
In his first press briefing since taking office in February, Kumar described the recent claims by Opposition leaders, particularly Gandhi’s August 7 press conference, as “misinformation,” noting that there was no supporting evidence.
Gandhi had presented the results of a six-month Congress analysis of the 2024 Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat's Mahadevapura Assembly segment electoral rolls and produced some 1 lakh allegedly bogus voters. He claimed the same trend—duplicate entries, false addresses, and so on—prevailed throughout the country.
Though Kumar did not explicitly name Gandhi or the Congress, he referred to those who had made a “PPT,” a clear reference to Gandhi’s presentation. He stated that there was neither a legal provision nor evidence to issue notices to the 1 lakh alleged fake voters. The CEC highlighted the distinction between the electoral roll, where the names of some people can repeat, and the actual voting, stating that asserting those electors voted more than once was equivalent to calling them "criminals." The CEC also pointed out that mobility over the years meant that many electors' names were not struck off from earlier rolls, which is "legally challenging."
Responding to Opposition demands for CCTV footage of polling, Kumar highlighted that photos of electors had been displayed during Gandhi’s press conference without their consent. He asked, “Hum ne kuchh din pehle dekha ki kaye matdaataon ki photo unki anumati ke bina media ke samaksh rakhi gayi, unke upar aarop lagaye gaye, unka istemaal kiya gaya. Kya apni maatao, bahuon, betiyo sahit kisi bhi matdaata ki CCTV video Chunav Aayog ko saajha karni chahiye kya?”
Kumar reiterated that no genuine elector's name would be deleted without evidence, and claimed that the EC was as firm as a "rock" for all voters. He stated, "Halafnama dena hoga ya desh se maafi maangni hogi, koi teesra vikalp nahi hai… Agar saath din mein halafnama nahi mila to iska arth, ki yeh saare aarop niradhar hai."
The CEC reminded that election petitions could be lodged in 45 days of results, criticizing efforts to mislead the public with such words as "vote theft," questioning, "What else is this, if not an insult to the Constitution of India?" He accused certain parties of intimidating voters and exploiting the EC's reputation for political mileage.
On Congress charges in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Kumar wondered why it was not raised during the process. "So far, the Maharashtra CEO has not received even a single such (bogus) elector's name, with evidence," he said. On demands for machine-readable electoral rolls, he pointed out that the Supreme Court in 2019 held that their sharing would amount to a breach of voter privacy. Kumar further said long-standing issues would be resolved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
Regarding the current Bihar SIR, which is being contested in the Supreme Court, Kumar stated voters, parties, and Booth Level Officers were all on board, but was concerned that district presidents and booth-level agents' concerns were not reaching state or national leadership.
Bihar SIR, released on June 24, differs from revisions annually, as rolls are being prepared anew. All 7.89 crore enrolled electors needed to furnish enumeration forms by July 25 in order to feature in the draft roll released on August 1. Newly enrolled electors since 2003 need to provide documents for themselves and their parents, such as citizenship proofs. Although the EC specified 11 documents, Aadhaar and ration cards were not mentioned.
The draft roll released on August 1 had 7.24 crore electors; the balance 65 lakh were dead, migrated, untraceable, or double-registered. Electors have until September 1 to file documents to be included in the final roll, to be released on September 30. Asked why SIR could not be done at a different time, when monsoon rains had caused floods and Assembly polls were around the corner, Kumar pointed out that the 2003 intensive revision had also been done during the same season, July 14–August 14.
Kumar did not reveal the number of electors who have submitted documents till date, or the number of new electors enrolled. He did not also say anything about the inclusion of Nepalese, Bangladeshi, or Myanmar citizens in the rolls, and that any entries of such would be deleted during the SIR. He clarified that the SIR seeks to remove foreigners enrolled in the last 20 years.
When asked why Gandhi was required to file an affidavit and not others such as BJP MP Anurag Thakur, Kumar replied only electors of a constituency can make complaints during the revision process; outsiders have to do that through affidavit. On the allegation that some electors had "0" as their house address, he clarified that notional numbers are given where municipalities do not give addresses, a situation covering "crores" of voters across the country.
The EC posted the names of 65 lakh electors who are not in searchable format with EPIC numbers on all district election officer websites. The Supreme Court had instructed the EC to publish the lists, together with deletion reasons, although the EC insisted that it was not bound by law to post deletion reasons.
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