EC on ‘vote theft’ row: Parties should have flagged roll errors before polls; ‘welcome scrutiny’ | India News

NEW DELHI: Amid the continuing row over particular intensive revision and “vote theft” prices, the Election Commission on Saturday mentioned that the political events should have raised errors within the electoral rolls through the claims and objections interval of previous elections.The ballot physique mentioned that it shares electoral rolls with political events forward of any elections to right any errors.“It seems that some political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) did not examine the Electoral Rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors, if any, to SDMs/EROS, DEOS or CEOS. Recently, some Political Parties and individuals are raising issues about errors in Electoral Rolls, including the Electoral Rolls prepared in the past,” the ballot physique mentioned in an official assertion. “The appropriate time to raise any issue with the Electoral Rolls would have been during the claims and objections period of that phase, which is precisely the objective behind sharing the Electoral Rolls with all political parties and the candidates. Had these issues been raised at the right time through the right channels, it would have enabled the concerned SDM / EROS to correct the mistakes, if genuine, before those elections,” it added.EC additionally mentioned that it “welcomes” the scrutiny of electoral rolls by events and voters.“It will help SDMS/EROS to remove the errors and purify the Electoral Rolls which has always been the objective of ECI,” it mentioned.The ballot physique can be scheduled to carry a press convention on Sunday.This comes after Congress chief Rahul unveiled what he had described as an “atom bomb” of proof in opposition to the Election Commission. Citing information from the Mahadevapura meeting phase, which falls underneath the Bengaluru Central parliamentary constituency in Congress-ruled Karnataka, he accused the ballot physique of “colluding” with the BJP.RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav additionally accused the ballot physique of hatching a conspiracy to govern Bihar’s voter record by issuing two Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers to Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and employees.The Election Commission has firmly rejected the allegations and requested Gandhi to signal an affidavit to formalise his grievance. He refused, saying he had already sworn an oath to the Constitution.The ballot physique additionally objected use of the time period “vote chori” by Rahul Gandhi, saying such “dirty phrases” had been geared toward making a false narrative.Meanwhile, Rahul has launched the “Vote Adhikar Yatra” against the alleged “theft of votes” through EC’s special intensive revision of electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar.The yatra, scheduled to begin on Sunday, will cover more than 20 districts of Bihar over 16 days.“We are bringing the Voter Rights Yatra to the folks. This is the battle to guard probably the most basic democratic proper – ‘one person, one vote’,” Rahul wrote in a submit on X.“Join us in Bihar to save lots of the Constitution,” he added.