Karnataka CEO asks Rahul Gandhi to share documents based on which he claimed woman voted twice
New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI): The Karnataka chief electoral officer on Sunday issued a notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking him to share documents based on which he had alleged that a woman voted twice.
Soon after the notice was issued to the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Election Commission once again asked him to either sign a declaration to substantiate his allegations of vote theft in Karnataka, Haryana and Maharashtra or apologise to the nation for making "absurd" allegations.
Karnataka's top poll officer told Gandhi that the documents will help his office carry out a detailed inquiry.
Gandhi had shown the documents at a press conference in the national capital last week.
"You have also stated that as per the records given by the polling officer, Smt Shakun Rani had voted twice... On inquiry, Smt Sakun Rani has stated that she has voted only once and not twice, as alleged by you," the notice read.
A preliminary inquiry conducted by the CEO's office also revealed that the tick-marked document shown by the Congress leader in the presentation was not issued by the polling officer, the letter said.
"Therefore, you are kindly requested to provide the relevant documents on the basis of which you have concluded that Smt Shakun Rani or anyone else has voted twice, so that a detailed inquiry can be undertaken by this office," the notice stated.
Responding to the notice issued by its CEO, the EC said, "Rahul Gandhi still has time to give a declaration on the first letter of CEO Karnataka or apologise to the country."
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
