Gehlot defends Rahul on ‘Vote Chori’ allegation; dubs ECI’s affidavit demand as ‘absurd’

Defending the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of ‘vote theft’ by the Election Commission of India (ECI), former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has deplored the Commission’s demand that Gandhi should make statements on the issue under oath, terming it absurd.

The senior Congress leader also expressed serious concern about the “loss of credibility” of the Commission in the wake of certain actions taken by the election body, including “getting state-level election commissions to issue responses to Gandhi in the matter”.

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Gehlot, in a X post late Thursday, said, “The credibility of the Election Commission of India was once so strong that other countries used to seek training from it to conduct their elections. It is extremely unfortunate that today, the people of India themselves are looking at the Election Commission with suspicion. The undemocratic actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party have destroyed even the most important institutions of the country.”

The three-time CM asserted in the post, “After the LoP, Sh @RahulGandhi, exposed the #VoteChori (vote theft) by the Election Commission in favour of the BJP, the Central Election Commission, instead of offering a clarification, is getting state-level election commissions to issue responses that are further weakening public trust in the institution.”

He said, “In fact, the Election Commission has now reached a state of ‘theft with brazenness’. Had the Election Commission been acting fairly, it would have provided the voter list data in a machine-readable format like Excel, as demanded by Shri Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party. This would have enabled work that took nearly six months to be completed within minutes,” Gehlot said.

Strongly defending the LoP Lok Sabha, the Congress old guard further wrote – “Shri Rahul Gandhi has exposed the presence of fake and bogus votes with specific reference to the date of the final voter list issued just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In contrast, state election commissions like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are showing the revised voter list of 2025 in an attempt to discredit his claims. This suggests that, fearing exposure after the electoral fraud, such fake names are being quietly removed.”

Another absurd demand being made by the Election Commission is that Rahul Gandhi should make these statements under oath, he said, adding that ”They seem to forget that Rahul Gandhi holds a constitutional position and is working under an oath to uphold the Constitution, which inherently includes strengthening constitutional institutions.”

“If the Election Commission had been acting honestly, then instead of offering such baseless justifications, whether the issue was raised by the Leader of Opposition or even by an ordinary citizen, it would have initiated a fair investigation and would have taken action against those responsible for the wrongdoing,” Gehlot concluded.