New Delhi, Aug 17: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday issued a point-by-point rebuttal to allegations made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over alleged “vote theft,” manipulation of rolls, and irregularities in electoral processes.
Addressing the controversy around electors with “zero” house numbers, Kumar clarified that such entries were not fraudulent. “Many urban colonies lack official house numbers, and homeless voters are also assigned notional numbers that appear as zero. Questioning their validity is an insult to democracy,” he said.
Responding to claims of irregularities in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the CEC said political parties had failed to raise objections when electoral rolls were prepared. “Even eight months later, no petition has been filed in the Supreme Court. Making accusations now undermines public trust,” he stressed. Kumar also dismissed allegations of unusually high voting after 5 p.m., saying turnout in the final hour was actually less than 10 percent.
On Rahul Gandhi’s demand for action in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central seat, the CEC explained that complaints must be submitted under oath before the Electoral Officer, in line with electoral precedent.
Clarifying reports of 22 lakh “sudden deaths” in Bihar’s rolls, Kumar said these were long-unaccounted entries corrected during scrutiny, not new anomalies. He admitted the process was complex but stressed it required active involvement from both Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and party-appointed agents.
On denial of machine-readable voter lists, Kumar said the Supreme Court banned sharing such lists in 2019 to prevent tampering and protect privacy. A searchable version, however, remains available on the ECI website.
He further defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive in Bihar, calling it a necessary step to cleanse rolls. Warning against “baseless allegations,” Kumar said irresponsible remarks on “vote theft” insult the Constitution and weaken democracy.
