The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday criticised the use of phrases like “vote chori,” calling them an attack on both voters and the integrity of poll staff. The warning comes amid opposition allegations of discrepancies in electoral rolls and a Congress campaign highlighting alleged irregularities.
In its statement, the ECI said, “If anyone has proof of a person voting twice in any election, it should be submitted to the Commission with a written affidavit. Blanket claims labelling all electors as ‘chor’ without evidence are unacceptable.” The poll body emphasised that the principle of one person, one vote has been in place since India’s first general elections in 1951-52.
The statement followed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s August 7 press briefing, where he cited a study of electoral rolls in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of Bangalore Central. Gandhi claimed that over one lakh votes had been “stolen” through duplicate entries, invalid addresses, bulk registrations at single addresses, incorrect photographs, and misuse of Form 6 for new voter registration.
Responding to the allegations, the ECI described the claims as misleading and requested a detailed written affidavit through the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer. Since Gandhi’s revelations, other opposition parties have raised similar concerns about voter roll discrepancies in several states.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also pointed to alleged irregularities in constituencies held by opposition leaders, including Gandhi’s Rae Bareli seat, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee’s Diamond Harbour constituency, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s Kannauj seat. At a press briefing on Wednesday, BJP MP Anurag Thakur claimed that Rae Bareli alone had 2.69 lakh doubtful voters.