Give affidavit or apologise, no third option: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ allegations

NEW DELHI: The Chief Election Commisioner of India on Sunday refuted allegations of “vote theft” by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and asked him to either furnish a signed affidavit or apologise to the nation for his remarks.

The CEC also termed the allegations of bias by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabhas as an “insult” to the Constitution of India.

“…An affidavit will have to be given or an apology should be made to the country. Teesra koi vikalp nahi (There is no third option.) If the affidavit is not received within 7 days, it means that all these allegations are baseless…” CEC Gyanesh Kumar said while addressing mediapersons at a briefing at the National Media Centre in the national capital.

Rahul Gandhi had on August 7 addressed a press conference in New Delhi which he presented Congress’ research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, a part of the Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency. Gandhi alleged “vote chori” (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations.

Rahul Gandhi further pointed out an instance of 80 people registered in a single address in Mahadevapura.

Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the poll body is “destroying evidence” through the directive deleting CCTV footage from polling booths. He alleged that the EC was only preserving CCTV and webcasting footage of the election process for only 45 days after the whole process is completed, unless the election result is challenged in court.

#WATCH | Delhi: On Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against ECI, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar says, “…An affidavit will have to be given or an apology will have to be made to the country. There is no third option. If the affidavit is not received within 7 days, it means… pic.twitter.com/AJVbxEdPja

— ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2025

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar today said, “We saw a few days ago that photos of many voters were presented to the media without their permission. Allegations were made against them, they were used. Should the Election Commission share the CCTV videos of any voter including their mothers, daughters-in-law, daughters? Only those whose names are in the voter list cast their votes to elect their candidate…”

Rahul Gandhi had alleged that “collusion” happened between the poll body and the BJP during the 2024 parliamentary elections, which resulted in

Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing his third term. Congress won 99 seats out of out of 543 while BJP secured 240 seats.

The Congress leader further claimed that that multiple voters have more than one voter ID cards. Gandhi had presented examples of voters like Shakun Rani, who he claimed cast her ballots twice based on data shown by a polling officer.

The CEC in his briefing today refuted the allegations of an increase in voters in Maharashtra. Kumar asked that why there were no objections submitted during the preparation of the voter list.

Gyanesh Kumar said that till date, the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra has not received the name of a single voter with proof.

“Allegations were made that the voter list in Maharashtra had increased. When there was a draft list, why were the claims and objections not submitted on time? When the results came, then it was said that this was wrong. To date, the Chief Election Officer of Maharashtra has not received the name of a single voter with proof. It has been eight months since the elections were held,” Kumar said.

“Some voters alleged double voting. When asked for proof, no answer was given. Neither the Election Commission nor any voter is afraid of such false allegations. When politics is being done by targeting the voters of India by keeping a gun on the shoulder of the Election Commission, today the Election Commission wants to make it clear to everyone that the Election Commission fearlessly stood like a rock with all the voters of all sections and all religions including the poor, rich, elderly, women, youth without any discrimination, is standing and will continue to stand,” the CEC said
CEC said that the Election Commission had replied that if there is voting for 10 hours, then the average rate per hour is 10 per cent.

“It was also asked how so much voting happened in the last one hour? The Election Commission had replied that if there is voting for 10 hours, then the average is 10 per cent every hour… If you keep saying anything 10 times, 20 times, it does not become true. The sun rises only in the east. It does not rise in the west just because someone says so,” he said.

The Mahayuti alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party ended up registering a landslide victory in the 2024 state assembly with 235 from 288 seats. The BJP won 135 seats on its own becoming the single largest party in the state.

Incidentally, today’s briefing by the EC were made on the same day when Congress Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi launched his 1,300 km-long ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from poll-bound Bihar’s Sasaram to step up the Opposition INDIA bloc’s campaign against its “vote theft” allegations.

Further, the Chief Election Commissioner today appealed to all political parties to point out mistakes in the draft list before September 1 to enable the poll commission to make corrections.

“…After 1st of August, when our daily bulletins started coming, no political party has lodged a single objection till now. So, this can only mean two things. Either the draft list is completely correct…The Election Commission is saying that we will give time till 1st September and it (draft list) can be corrected…If similar allegations are raised even after September 1, then who is responsible? Every recognised party still has fifteen days left…I appeal through you that all twelve political parties, whether they are national parties or state-level parties, should still point out the mistakes in (draft list) before September 1. The Election Commission is ready to correct them…” (ANI)