Rahul Gandhi’s vote theft charges ‘baseless’, says Shinde

Thane, Sep 19 (PTI) Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde has dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegations of irregularities in the voters' list as "completely baseless" and challenged him to submit a formal affidavit to the Election Commission (EC).

Gandhi on Thursday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who "destroyed democracy" and cited data from a Karnataka assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.

The Election Commission, however, had dubbed the allegations "incorrect and baseless" and said, "No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Gandhi." His claims have triggered a war of words between the ruling and Opposition parties, with the latter demanding Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' resignation.

Talking to reporters here late on Thursday night, Shinde asserted that the election process in Maharashtra, as well as in Karnataka, Telangana, and Punjab, had been entirely transparent.

The Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition's allegations of voter manipulation were unfounded, he said, pointing out that Congress had won in the Aland constituency in Karnataka under the same election system that Gandhi now questioned.

"How can one accuse of vote theft in a constituency where the Congress party itself has emerged victorious?" Shinde asked.

"If Rahul Gandhi has doubts about the election process, he should submit an affidavit to the Election Commission and follow proper legal procedures. Only then should he make such grave allegations," he said.

Gandhi has cited details of alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in Karnataka's Aland constituency in the run-up to the 2023 assembly polls.

He also gave the example of Maharashtra's Rajura constituency, where he claimed 6,850 voters were added in a "fraudulent" manner using automated software.

Shinde called the accusations "completely baseless", saying the process to remove a voter's name from the list was rigorous and could not be done hastily or arbitrarily.

He further claimed that the Congress MP's criticisms were part of a pattern.

"Whenever he loses an election, Rahul Gandhi raises doubts about the integrity of the election process, questioning the credibility of EVM machines, voter lists, and even the Election Commission," Shinde said.

It was during the Congress-led UPA government, under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, that EVMs were first introduced to conduct elections, he said.

"So, to claim that the system is flawed now, simply because the Congress has lost, is unfair," he said.

He said that the people of Maharashtra have given their unprecedented support to the Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena, recognising the work done by the government and the welfare schemes implemented in the last three years.

"To undermine this people's mandate and make unsubstantiated allegations is an attempt to disrespect the public's choice," he said.

Taking a jibe at Gandhi, Shinde said the Congress leader had intended to "drop a hydrogen bomb" during his press conference but had forgotten to do so. PTI COR ARU