CM Siddaramaiah accuses ECI of 'colluding' with ruling party, 'threatening' Opposition

Bengaluru, Aug 18 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of "colluding" with the ruling party and said instead of addressing the "vote theft" claims made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, it tried to threaten the Opposition.

The ECI’s credibility will remain in doubt until it honestly fulfilled its duty of safeguarding every citizen’s vote, he said.

"The Election Commission of India (ECI) finally spoke - not out of duty, but because the Congress, the INDIA Alliance, the civil society, and even the Supreme Court forced it to. And when it did, the mask slipped. Instead of behaving like an impartial referee, the @ECISVEEP looked like it was reading straight from the BJP’s script. Yesterday’s press conference didn’t answer questions raised by LoP @RahulGandhi - it only confirmed suspicions," Siddaramaiah said in a post on 'X'.

During a press conference in Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Gynaesh Kumar had said the electoral roll revision is aimed at removing all shortcomings in voter lists and it is a matter of grave concern that some parties are spreading misinformation about it and “firing from the EC's shoulder”.

The CEC rejected as "baseless" the allegations of "vote theft" and asserted that all stakeholders are working to make SIR a success in a transparent manner.

The chief minister described the ECI’s press conference as "shrouded in arrogance" and said the poll panel acted as though it was doing a favour by speaking directly, instead of hiding behind nameless, faceless “sources”.

"But what the country saw was not accountability, but an attempt to intimidate and deflect. Rahul Gandhi had shown serious mismatches in Bengaluru Central, using the ECI’s own data. From that one example, it is obvious that such anomalies exist in many other constituencies too. Instead of answering, the ECI tried to threaten the opposition," he alleged.

The CM pointed out that the Chief Election Commissioner asked for affidavits and oaths, as if its own numbers need certification before they can be trusted.

"This is absurd. A responsible Commission would have taken the mismatch seriously, verified it, and explained it to the public. By refusing to do so, it has only strengthened the suspicion that it is working hand in glove with the ruling party. And when it claimed to be impartial towards both ruling and opposition parties, it sounded less like truth and more like a bad joke," he said.

Siddaramaiah termed ECI’s dismissal of concerns about "fake" and duplicate voters as "shocking".

"It brushed them aside saying no one raised objections during the 45-day claims window, so the matter is closed. This is nothing but an excuse to escape responsibility. The truth is, it took time for @INCIndia to expose these irregularities because the ECI itself made the data inaccessible. We had to dig through thousands of pages in just one assembly segment of Bengaluru Central to uncover the mismatches. If this is the situation in one seat, imagine the scale across the country," he added.

Siddaramaiah wondered if the ECI would simply ignore the irregularities that would come to light after elections.

"Its constitutional duty is to protect the integrity of every single vote, not to shut its eyes when the problem becomes visible later," he remarked.

He alleged that the excuses given on machine-readable electoral rolls and CCTV footage were even weaker.

"The ECI said searchable rolls could harm privacy. But electoral rolls are already public records. Political parties are not outsiders - they are part of the democratic process. Denying them full, verifiable data will not help in protecting privacy; it will only hide errors and fraud," he said.

Slamming the ECI, the chief minister termed the so-called privacy excuse on CCTV footage as "laughable".

According to him, CCTV in polling booths exists to ensure transparency, not secrecy. To destroy that record after just 45 days is not protecting voters, it is protecting wrongdoing. And the biggest questions were not answered at all.

"Why was the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rushed in Bihar just months before elections and during floods? Why did Maharashtra suddenly record a surge of 70 lakh voters between 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections?" he asked.

"Why did the poll panel oppose Supreme Court directions that would have made the system more transparent and voter-friendly? Why has it not taken action on the evidence given by Rahul Gandhi? On every important issue, the ECI chose silence," he alleged.

Siddaramaiah reminded that democracy depended on trust.

"That trust is broken when the Election Commission dodges questions, intimidates the opposition, and shields those in power. The people of India can see this clearly. No press conference or grand speech will cover up the truth. The ECI’s job is to safeguard every citizen’s vote - until it does that honestly, its credibility will remain in doubt," he added. PTI AMP ROH