Election Commission Dares Rahul Gandhi to Sign Oath on ‘Absurd’ Voter Fraud Claims

The Election Commission of India on Thursday fired back at Rahul Gandhi’s explosive allegations of voter fraud, publicly daring the Congress leader to back his claims by signing a formal oath. In a sharp retort posted on its official X handle, the poll body challenged the Leader of the Opposition to submit a sworn statement under the Registration of Electors Rules to the Chief Electoral Officer in Karnataka by the end of the day.

“If Rahul Gandhi does not believe in what he is saying, then he should stop arriving at absurd conclusions and mislead the citizens,” the Election Commission wrote, effectively calling Gandhi’s bluff. The move escalates the confrontation that began earlier in the day when Gandhi accused the commission of colluding with the BJP to commit “a huge criminal fraud” in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Bengaluru during the 2024 general elections. He alleged that over 100,000 fake votes were created to “steal” the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, which the BJP won by a narrow margin.

Sources within the Election Commission had earlier told India Today TV that Gandhi must either provide signed evidence or cease making “baseless accusations.” “Ya to sign karke dein ya phir Bharat ki janta ko gumrah na karein,” the source said, translating to, “Either sign and submit evidence, or stop misleading the people of India.”

In his press conference, Gandhi had claimed that an internal Congress study uncovered over one lakh duplicate voters and fake addresses in the Mahadevapura constituency alone. He detailed five alleged methods of “stealing” votes, including duplicate entries and bulk voters at single addresses. This is not the first time Gandhi has targeted the poll body; he previously accused it of “stealing” the Maharashtra Assembly elections last year, citing an unusual surge in voting numbers and a significant increase in registered voters between polls.