Amid 'vote chori' row, INDIA bloc may seek Chief Election Commissioner's impeachment

The opposition INDIA alliance, led by Congress, may move an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar amid the vote chori row, India Today reported, citing sources.

Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi said that the alliance will soon be taking a decision on the same. A two-thirds majority is needed in both Houses of Parliament to oust the CEC.

Meanwhile, Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday addressed the allegations of electoral fraud by the Congress and Rahul Gandhi.  On August 7, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged manipulation of the electoral rolls by the poll body in cahoots with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Citing examples from the Mahadevapura assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka, he alleged the electoral list indicated fraud perpetrated across India.

The LoP highlighted issues, including duplicate entries of individuals, addresses with house number zero, and dozens of voters from a small house. While vouching for the voting process in India, Kumar said no complaints would be accepted on the draft list of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) underway in Bihar after September 1. 

Without naming Rahul Gandhi, he said the "PPT presentation" saw "wrong analysis" of voter data. He also challenged the Congress leader to present an affidavit on his allegations within 7 days or "apologise to the nation". 

Addressing the house number 0 allegation, Gyanesh Kumar explained that there were houses in several panchayat areas which were not assigned a house number as part of their address.

He added it was unthinkable to leave out voters; thus, a 'notional number' in the form of zero was assigned to such addresses. 

He mentioned that there are people who live under bridges, near lampposts, and in unauthorised colonies in cities, thus, the poll body tries not to leave out any voter and assigns them these addresses.

Furthermore, he addressed the allegations of duplicate names in the electoral rolls and said it was one thing to have a voter's name in more than one booth and quite another to cast votes at two places. 

"When asked for proof, no answer was given... The Election Commission wants to make it clear that it fearlessly stood, stands and will stand like a rock with all the voters of all religions and all sections of the society," Kumar added.

He mentioned that electoral rolls and voting are two different subjects, with separate laws and distinct functionaries. Addressing allegations by Congress and its ally RJD that the SIR in Bihar was being conducted in a rushed manner, he asked if it made sense for electoral rolls to be updated before polls or after an election is held. 

"The Representation of the People Act says the voter list has to be rectified before every election. This is the legal responsibility of the Election Commission," he explained.

Saying the SIR is being rushed is a false claim, he noted: "Then the question arose as to whether the Election Commission would be able to reach more than 7 crore voters of Bihar? The truth is that the work started on June 24, and the entire process [to reach out] was completed by about July 20."

He added that allegations of 22 lakh voter deaths in 6 months were misleading and clarified these deaths represented unreported cases spanning around 20 years. 

In a pointed counter to Rahul Gandhi, CEC Kumar said: ""One needs to have the stomach to listen to and understand the truth."