While Rahul claims voter list manipulation, Karnataka govt uses it for caste census: ECI sources

NEW DELHI: Countering Rahul Gandhi’s claim of voter list manipulation, sources in the Election Commission of India (ECI) pointed out on Friday that the Congress-led government in Karnataka itself relies on electoral rolls for its crucial caste census policy.

The ECI sources said that yesterday, the Karnataka government decided to use the electoral roll as a base for conducting a caste survey. “At the same time, LoP (Rahul Gandhi) was dropping the ‘Atom Bomb’ on electoral rolls, the Congress government was vouching for the authenticity of the electoral rolls by basing their most important policy of caste census on the same electoral rolls”, ECI sources said.

चुनाव आयोग, 5 सवाल हैं – देश जवाब चाहता है:

1. विपक्ष को डिजिटल वोटर लिस्ट क्यों नहीं मिल रही? क्या छिपा रहे हो?
2. CCTV और वीडियो सबूत मिटाए जा रहे हैं – क्यों? किसके कहने पर?
3. फर्जी वोटिंग और वोटर लिस्ट में गड़बड़ी की गई – क्यों?
4. विपक्षी नेताओं को धमकाना, डराना – क्यों?… pic.twitter.com/P0Wf4nh5hc

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 8, 2025

“The reason is that in the past, he (Rahul Gandhi) has never sent any self-signed letter by himself. Whatever reply we get is from other entities, and every time, he disowns it. For example, he raised the Maharashtra issue on December 24. Some advocate writes to us from AICC. Our reply dated December 24 is on our website. But Rahul Gandhi says that we have never replied”, ECI sources said.

On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi said 1,00,250 “fake votes” were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka to ensure a win for the BJP. The ECI also asked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to sign the declaration by Chief Electoral Officers of Maharashtra and Karnataka or apologise for his “absurd” allegations, sources said.

The ECI sources said, “If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the declaration”. The ECI asked Rahul Gandhi to apologise if he does not sign the affidavits.

“If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations. In which case, he should apologise to the nation. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the declaration or apologise to the nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI”, sources said. (ANI)