The opposition party also claimed that Gyanesh Kumar looked like a “BJP spokesperson” during his press conference in New Delhi.
The Congress made the remarks a day after the CEC issued a seven-day ultimatum to party chief Rahul Gandhi to submit a signed affidavit to substantiate his claims, failing which his allegations will be deemed baseless and invalid.
Addressing a press conference with party chief Kanhaiya Kumar during the Vote Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, “At the start of this yatra, Gyanesh Kumar had to give a press conference. We learned that there was a Chief Election Commissioner. “Earlier, we thought there would be an Anurag Thakur, Sambit Patra or a person named as a source making comments but we finally saw the CEC,” Khera said at Daboor where the yatra took a lunch break.
“He (Gyanesh Kumar) threatened to give an affidavit. He would be afraid of threats, but not us. They don’t believe their own data,” he said.
Kanhaiya Kumar alleged that the BJP wanted to do ‘vote chori’ and ‘steal the Constitution’.
“Before the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP raised the slogan ‘Ab ki baar 400 paar’ and some of its outspoken leaders lifted the lid on the conspiracy to amend the Constitution,” he alleged.
In Haryana and Maharashtra, opinion polls suggested that a Congress government would be formed, but the opposite happened, Kanhaiya Kumar said.
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“We asked for a machine-readable format but they refused. The EC kept saying there was no problem but now they are saying that ‘we are doing SIR to correct the glitches in the electoral roll’,” he said.
“The EC itself is saying that there is something wrong in the electoral roll, which means that it has lied before,” Kumar said.
When Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi provided evidence of the irregularities in the voting list, the EC asked him to file an affidavit, he said.
“It seems that a BJP spokesperson is speaking. And no response was given in the press conference,” Kanhaiya Kumar said.
“We have found several irregularities. Not all BLOs (booth level officers) are receiving filled forms door to door. The EC wants to provide only data, it does not care whether it is right or wrong. The dead have been mentioned in the lists and the living people are removed from it,” he said.
“If the EC gives an affidavit, we are also ready to give an affidavit. They have to show their papers first,” Kumar said.
Asked what kind of affidavit they should provide, Kumar said the EC document is an electoral roll and they should provide it in a machine-readable format.
“File an affidavit in the Supreme Court that your voters list is clean and we will also file an affidavit that there are irregularities in the existing voters list,” he said.
Talking about the problems faced by people of Bihar during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Kanhaiya Kumar said that when people find that their name is not in the draft list, they go to the BLO, but that officer does not accept Aadhaar card as identity proof.
Kanhaiya Kumar said genuine voters were being harassed and cited his example that the spelling of his father’s name differs in different documents, creating hurdles.
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People are harassed for small mistakes, he said.
“We want to request that 65 lakh people be removed, but they should also provide data on how many names have been added,” Kanhaiya Kumar said.
“The EC’s intentions are not clear. It is working to highlight the face of the supreme leader,” the Congress leader said, demanding a clean electoral roll.
If a government is formed through ‘chori’ (theft), then such a government will not function honestly, the Congress leader said.
“SIR is a simple way to vote chori,” he said, and urged people to come forward and fight against “vote chori” to save democracy.
Kanhaiya Kumar said the BJP was shaken “as we are getting support from the people”.
In an article on “Around 45 per cent of the electorate has suddenly become eligible to vote in Nashik West and Hingna assembly constituencies. Then they will announce that 2+2 = 420,” he said while lashing out at the EC.
In his first press conference after Gandhi leveled allegations of ‘chori vote’ in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and several opposition leaders flagged issues over the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, Gyanesh Kumar asked the Congress leader to either apologize or substantiate his claims within a week with a signed affidavit, as required by rules electoral.
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“Give an affidavit or apologize to the nation. There is no third option. If an affidavit is not given within seven days, it means all allegations are baseless,” Gyanesh Kumar said, accompanied by election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The CEC’s remarks come on a day when the Gandhi-led opposition launched the ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar and intensified its attacks on the SIR of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.
The Congress and other opposition parties have been pressuring the EC to provide a machine-readable digital copy of Maharashtra’s electoral rolls, alleging irregularities in the 2024 state elections.
