EC not afraid of false allegations of 'vote theft': Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
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New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday defended the Election Commission of India (ECI) against allegations of bias and voter fraud, asserting that the poll body makes no distinction between the ruling party and the opposition.
Addressing a press conference at the National Media Centre in New Delhi, he said that every citizen above the age of 18 has a constitutional right to vote, and every political party is registered with the Commission under the same law, leaving no room for discrimination. He made it clear that the ECI is not afraid of false allegations of “vote theft.”
“The Election Commission does not see opposition or ruling party. For us, everyone is equal. Whoever it is, the ECI will never step back from its constitutional duty,” Kumar said, adding that terms such as “vote theft” are an insult to the Constitution and undermine the integrity of the electoral process.
“It is insult to Indian Constitution if election petition is not filed within 45 days but allegations of ‘vote chori’ are raised,” Kumar said.
The CEC emphasized that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was launched in Bihar in response to long-standing demands from political parties for corrections in the voter list. “For two decades, parties have been asking for rectification of errors in the rolls. That is why we started SIR in Bihar. Errors are being corrected with contributions from all parties, and copies of the draft list have been provided to them,” Kumar said.
He further stated that all stakeholders are committed and working hard to ensure the SIR of Bihar is a complete success. With more than seven crore voters of Bihar supporting the Election Commission, he asserted that no question can be raised on the credibility of either the Commission or the voters.
He pointed out that between August 1 and September 1, parties, booth-level agents, and citizens themselves are free to file claims and objections. So far, the Commission has received around 28,000 claims and objections, and corrective measures are under way.
“The Election Commission’s doors are open to everyone equally. Voters, political parties, and booth-level officers are working together by verifying, signing, and even giving video testimonials. These verified documents and testimonials from district party presidents and nominated BLOs are on record. The problem is that either they are not reaching the state or national leadership, or they are being deliberately ignored to spread confusion,” he added.
“In the Lok Sabha elections, more than one crore officials, ten lakh booth-level agents, and twenty lakh polling agents worked on the ground. With such a robust system, can anyone actually steal votes?” he asked.
Furthermore, Kumar warned that using voter images and voter data for political campaigns was unethical and a breach of privacy.
“The Supreme Court has already said that voter privacy cannot be compromised. Some in the public sphere are breaching this,” he said providing justification behind not sharing machine readable voter rolls to political parties.
Kumar stated, “The EC does not fear any false allegation. We are committed to ensure that every poor person, every religion, every caste, and every citizen votes without discrimination. The Commission has stood like a rock, and it will continue to stand like a rock.”
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi has launched the ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram, Bihar, claiming widespread irregularities in the Bihar SIR and vowing to fight for voter rights.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
