Supreme Court To Hear Plea Seeking SIT Probe Into Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Theft’ Allegations

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (Image: PTI/File)

The Supreme Court will hear a petition seeking an SIT probe into the ‘vote chori’ allegations made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against the Election Commission of India (ECI) on October 13.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by advocate Rohit Pandey, sought directions from the Supreme Court to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and look into the accusations made by the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition.

The plea also sought the top court’s direction that no further revision or finalisation of electoral rolls be undertaken until compliance with the court’s directions and the completion of an independent audit of the rolls.

Advocate Pandey referred to the August 7 press conference by Gandhi, where he had made explosive claims of a “huge criminal fraud” in polls through “collusion” between the BJP and the Election Commission and had cited an analysis of voter rolls in a constituency in Karnataka last year.

The plea also urged the top court to give directions to frame and issue binding guidelines to the Election Commission to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in the preparation, maintenance and publication of electoral rolls, including mechanisms for detection and prevention of duplicate or fictitious entries.

Rahul Gandhi’s Allegations

In a press conference on August 7, the Lok Sabha LoP released data alleging a vote theft of more than one lakh in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency.

In his long presentation, Gandhi used the term “vote chori” (vote theft) to highlight that the seat had 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 meant for new voters.

He had also made similar claims about Maharashtra and Haryana in recent months, especially after the Congress faced defeats in assembly polls held in these states last year.

EC Refutes Claims

Following Gandhi’s “vote chori” allegations, several units of the EC asked him to provide details of irregularities in the voter list under oath, warning that providing “false evidence” is punishable under Section 227 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The chief electoral officers (CEO) of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana wrote to Gandhi highlighting that the Congress did not file any claim or appeal for the voter list published in these three states.

They reminded him, a Lok Sabha member since 2004, that poll results can only be questioned by way of election petition before the concerned high court.