Targeting the recent allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI) by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi said on Friday that Congress leaders lectures about the election body without any argument or Aadhaar.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Joshi said that on June 12, the Election Commission sent a letter to Rahul Gandhi and asked him to come to his office and clarify the facts related to his allegations. However, the Congress MP did not respond, causing Joshi to claim that it reflects his “lack of seriousness”.
Joshi said, “They teach us about the Election Commission without any basis and logic … On June 12, the Election Commission had sent him a letter to come to his office and explain the facts, but he has not done so yet, because he lacks seriousness. The Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana also asked Rahul Gandhi to present a signed affidavit to start a signed affidavit to start a formal proceedings in this regard;
The Union Minister said that Rahul Gandhi believed everything at the time of winning the election, but after losing, blamed the Election Commission and EVMs. He said, “When we lost the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra and they won, everything was fine there … He won in Karnataka in 2023 and we live in 2024, so they are saying that the voter list is not true … What is the argument in it … The names of voters are removed due to the removal of the names, but if you win, there is no issue. “
On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and the Election Commission of “collusion”, which helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi achieve the third term. Rahul Gandhi said, “Narendra Modi became Prime Minister by a margin of only 25 seats … Election Commission is helping the BJP destroy the election system in India … The Election Commission is not giving us data due to our done in Mahadevpur (Karnataka assembly constituency); if we do so on other Lok Sabha seats, the truth of our democracy will be revealed.
The Congress leader also alleged that the election body is “destroying” evidence through instructions to preserve CCTV and webcasting footage of the election process for only 45 days after completion of the entire process, until the election results are challenged in the court.
He alleged, “The Election Commission wants to destroy the evidence across the country. It is the 21st century; you can store as much data as you want on the hard drive, including 10 years old data. However, the Election Commission wants to destroy CCTV footage within 45 days without providing voter list. They are settling with BJP to destroy the election system in India.”