Siddharthnagar, Sep 18 Responding to allegations made by Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, regarding "systemic" vote deletions in Congress-supporting booths, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Jagdambika Pal said on Thursday that the Congress leader must apologise, adding that if the Election Commission of India (ECI) was not neutral, he would not have been elected as an MP.
Speaking to IANS, Jagdambika Pal said, "The ECI has been repeatedly asking for proof. They have clearly said they are neither with the ruling party nor the Opposition -- they are neutral. If the ECI was biased, how is Rahul Gandhi an MP today?"
He added that the Opposition's fight is not against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) initiative but against illegal voters.
"This is not a fight against SIR; it’s a fight against Bangladeshis and Rohingyas living here illegally. Foreigners cannot be voters. Every Indian citizen above 18 years, regardless of caste or religion, has the right to vote," he said.
Pal also added that the ECI is identifying and removing names of deceased individuals and illegal foreigners from the voter list.
"When asked for proof, they (the Opposition) failed to provide any. Instead, they are misleading people by making explosive claims. Rahul Gandhi said he would drop a 'hydrogen bomb', but when the ECI demanded written proof, they had nothing," he said.
He added, "Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of the country. Earlier, they blamed EVMs, now they are blaming the ECI and crying foul over 'vote theft'. Their issue is not with the system but with illegal voters being removed."
Earlier on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi launched a fresh offensive on the ECI, claiming that votes were being deleted from the Congress booths through fake logins done through a 'centralised system'.
However, he remained evasive on questions of following it up with the ECI or taking legal recourse for the 'irregularities and wrongdoings' under the watch of the poll panel.
Meanwhile, the ECI rejected Rahul Gandhi's allegations of mass voter deletions in Karnataka's Aland Assembly constituency as 'baseless and incorrect'.
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