New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday strongly rejected allegations of “vote theft”, saying that attempts to create a false narrative against the poll body were an attack on Indian voters and the integrity of election staff.
Reiterating the law that a person is allowed to cast only one vote, the ECI again sought a written affidavit with proof of any individual voting twice in any election. The statement came in response to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of large-scale vote theft in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“The principle of one person, one vote has been in place since India’s first elections in 1951–1952. If anyone has evidence of a person actually voting twice in any election, it should be shared with the ECI along with a written affidavit, rather than branding all voters in India as ‘thieves’ without any proof,” the commission said.
It added that using terms like “vote theft” to build a false narrative was not only a direct attack on millions of Indian voters but also on the integrity of the lakhs of personnel involved in the election process.
Earlier, the Congress party had alleged that in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment, part of the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency, over 100,250 “fake votes” were created to ensure a BJP victory.
