Congress says CEC neutrality claim is laughable, Rahul’s questions unanswered

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday mounted a sharp attack on the Election Commission after Chief Election Commissioner Gynaesh Kumar defended the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and rejected allegations of “vote theft”.

In a statement, the Congress said the EC’s assertion that it makes no distinction between the ruling party and the Opposition is “laughable”.

Today, the Election Commission of India held a press conference. This was the first time this ‘new’ ECI was speaking directly and not planting through sources.

Yesterday, the ECI had released a ‘Press Note’, the purpose of which was to place the onus of voter list correction on…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 17, 2025

The party also contended that the CEC “has not meaningfully answered” any of the questions raised by Rahul Gandhi on alleged irregularities in the revision exercise. It maintained that Gandhi “only stated facts revealed by the EC’s own data”.

Jairam Ramesh escalated the criticism, saying the Commission now “stands thoroughly exposed not only for incompetence, but also for partisanship”. He pressed the poll body to publicly confirm whether it will implement “in letter and spirit” the Supreme Court’s August 14 orders on the Bihar SIR process.

The pushback came minutes after the CEC urged political parties to file claims and objections within the remaining 15-day window on the draft rolls in Bihar and cautioned against “misinformation” around the SIR. Kumar said the revision was neither hurried nor unusual, describing it as the Commission’s legal duty before every election. He rejected as baseless the accusations of double voting and “vote chori”, and said doorways of the Commission remain open to all stakeholders.

Congress leaders said those assurances do not address the core questions raised by the Opposition regarding additions and deletions on the rolls. They argued that the Commission must provide transparent, verifiable answers grounded in its own datasets and demonstrate compliance with the apex court’s directions.

Earlier in the day, Kumar underlined that booth-level officers and party agents are working together in a transparent manner and asked parties to participate in the statutory process instead of levelling charges from the outside. He added that with more than one crore personnel involved in election work, “vote chori” cannot occur in a system designed with multiple checks.

The Congress countered that neutrality is proved through actions, not declarations, and reiterated its demand for a clear, time-bound plan to implement the Supreme Court’s order and to publicly share granular updates on the roll revision in Bihar.