Bengaluru, Aug 13 Karnataka Congress on Wednesday slammed the ECI and urged the election body to look into its shortcomings instead of allegedly intimidating the Congress party and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, asking him to take an oath regarding "vote theft" allegations.
“Instead of looking into their own shortcomings, they are trying to intimidate us,” said Minister for RDPR, IT and BT Priyank Kharge, to the media in Bengaluru, after releasing more details of the alleged election fraud.
The minister claimed that their party has built upon what the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said earlier about how the ECI is not functioning in a free and fair manner, adding that his party has quoted several local sources and provided new evidence of discrepancies that took place in the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency.
“All we are asking is for the ECI to get its act right, instead of intimidating opposition leaders. We have given them certain evidence, but instead of verifying and reviewing it and coming before the public with a statement, they are trying to intimidate us. We will not be bogged down or yield to this pressure. We demand answers from the ECI on what happened in the Bengaluru Central Parliamentary seat,” the minister said.
Kharge said that all the evidence his party has provided is either government-verified or sourced from the ECI itself, and it is still available with them.
He added that the rules they (ECI) have established for their own functioning have been violated, and that is what Congress has pointed out.
“Every document we have is either obtained through RTI or endorsed by the government. This is exactly what Rahul Gandhi has been saying,” Kharge added.
He claimed that when the media outlets asked people in Bengaluru, one of the voters claimed that there are more Bangladeshi nationals here and that they vote for the BJP.
“They also alleged that the BJP leaders ensure their settlement here. BJP MLAs and MPs know that Bangladeshi nationals are living here. They themselves are running campaigns to send out Bangladeshi nationals,” he claimed.
The minister also asked the BJP about how people from Bangladesh reach Bengaluru, adding, whose responsibility is it to protect the borders?
“What is their connection with the BJP? I am not making these claims — voters are asking these questions. The BJP, not the Congress party, must answer them,” he emphasised.
He asked how it is possible that 1 lakh voters were added to the list in just 11 months?
“How were 62,000 names added overnight - that’s 160 people every day - some using fake transfer certificates and without proper addresses? Whose responsibility is it to issue voter IDs? Is it the job of the state government, CM Siddaramaiah, or Rahul Gandhi? Or is it the ECI’s responsibility? We are only reminding them of their duties,” Kharge said.
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