Hope SC takes note of evidences of electoral fraud: CPI(ML) Liberation

New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) The CPI(ML) Liberation on Friday hoped that the Supreme Court takes note of the "evidence" provided by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi about a "massive electoral fraud" in the Mahadevpura assembly segment of Bengaluru.

In a statement, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya also alleged that the Election Commission is trying to intimidate the Leader of Opposition by asking him to sign an oath which is irrelevant in this context.

"Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi provided tell-tale evidence of a massive electoral fraud in Mahadevpura Assembly segment of Bengaluru Central LS constituency in the 2024 LS elections. Hope the SC takes note, makes sure that the perpetrators of this fraud are meted out an exemplary punishment and the possibility of similar electoral frauds in the future is curbed by stopping the Bihar SIR straightaway," he said.

Bhattacharya said it is not an "isolated scam".

"...Here we have the template that has been used to manipulate electoral rolls and hence results in several elections. If Modi 3.0 has been made possible on the basis of such manipulated rolls and stolen elections in select constituencies, the legitimacy of the entire outcome becomes highly suspect," he said.

"Instead of expressing its readiness for a high level probe into the scam, the EC is trying to stop and intimidate Rahul Gandhi by asking him to sign an oath which is irrelevant in this context," he said.

Gandhi on Thursday made explosive claims of a "huge criminal fraud" in polls through collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission, as he cited an analysis in the Mahadevapura constituency and said it was "a crime against the Constitution".

He said over one lakh votes in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency in Karnataka were found to be fake, duplicate or bulk voter, with invalid addresses and new voters with misuse of Form 6.

Bhattacharya said exposing a scam of this magnitude involving more than 100,000 questionable entries in the electoral rolls is not equivalent to raising local level objections to specific entries which anyway has to be done within 30 days.

He said the EC must now provide the full electoral rolls in machine readable formats.

"By not providing booth-level lists of deletion on specified grounds in the ongoing Bihar SIR the EC is making room for the perpetration of a similar fraud in Bihar," the CPI(ML) leader said.

"Changing the rules to destroy essential electoral footage within 45 days and invoking the formal process of claims and counter-claims filed within 30 days of publication of draft rolls to defend an electoral roll in the face of clearly exposed irregularities can only facilitate more frauds," he said. PTI AO ZMN