Karnataka CEO issues fresh notice to Rahul Gandhi, fact-checks his Shakun Rani claim

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V Anbukumar on Sunday issued a fresh notice to Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, asking him to provide relevant documents to support his “vote theft” claims. The CEO said the papers displayed by Gandhi during his August 7 press conference were not official records.

The CEO also rejected Gandhi’s allegation that a woman named Shakun Rani voted twice in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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“In your press conference, you have stated that the documents shown in your presentation are from the records of the Election Commission of India. You said: ‘This is EC data.’ You also stated that, as per records given by the polling officer, Smt. Shakun Rani voted twice. You said: ‘Es ID card per do baar vote laga hai, wo jo tick hai, polling booth ke officer ki hai’ (Two votes are recorded on this voter ID card. The tick mark is made by the polling officer),” the CEO wrote.

“On inquiry, Smt. Shakun Rani has stated that she voted only once and not twice, as alleged by you,” he added.

The CEO asked Gandhi to submit relevant documents for a detailed inquiry.

“Therefore, you are kindly requested to provide the relevant documents based on which you have concluded that Smt. Shakun Rani or anyone else has voted twice, so that a detailed inquiry can be undertaken by this office,” the notice read.

At his August 7 press conference in Delhi, Gandhi had alleged massive irregularities in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, claiming that approximately 1,00,250 votes were “stolen” in the Bangalore Central constituency.

Among other charges, the Congress MP accused the Election Commission of allowing the misuse of Form 6, which is meant for enrolling first-time voters. He claimed that 33,692 voters registered using Form 6 were not first-time voters.

Citing the case of 70-year-old Shakun Rani, who was allegedly registered twice within two months using Form 6, Gandhi shared a marked electoral roll, claiming she voted twice in Mahadevapura during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.