The Supreme Court on Monday has dismissed a petition seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “vote chori” (vote theft) during the last general elections.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by advocate Rohit Pandey, seeks the Supreme Court’s direction seeking a SIT probe to investigate the accusations made by the Congress leader.A bench headed by Justice Surya Kant observed that the petitioner could approach the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Advocate Pandey had referred to the August 7 press conference by Rahul Gandhi, where he had made explosive claims of a “huge criminal fraud” in polls through “collusion” between the BJP and the Election Commission and had cited an analysis of voter rolls in a constituency in Karnataka last year.
On August 7, the Congress leader in a press conference, released data alleging a vote theft of more than one lakh in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency.
In his long presentation, Rahul Gandhi used the term “vote chori” (vote theft) to highlight that the seat had 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 meant for new voters.
He had made similar allegations in recent months regarding Maharashtra and Haryana, particularly after the Congress suffered defeats in the assembly elections held in both states last year.
EC Rejects Claims
Following Gandhi’s “vote chori” allegations, multiple units of the Election Commission asked him to submit details of the alleged irregularities in the voter list under oath, cautioning that furnishing false evidence would be punishable under Section 227 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).The chief electoral officers (CEO) of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana wrote to Gandhi highlighting that the Congress did not file any claim or appeal for the voter list published in these three states.
They reminded him, a Lok Sabha member since 2004, that election results can be challenged only through a formal election petition filed in the appropriate High Court.
