Shashi Tharoor to EC: Stop Attacking Rahul Gandhi, Answer His Poll-Rigging Charges!
Shashi Tharoor urges EC to answer Rahul Gandhi’s poll-rigging claims seriously.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor sharply criticized the Election Commission of India (ECI) for its response to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of electoral fraud, accusing the poll body of deflecting with formalities instead of providing substantive answers. Tharoor made these remarks while participating in a protest march by Opposition MPs from the INDIA bloc, including Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and TMC, against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged “vote chori” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency.
Speaking to PTI, Tharoor emphasized that Gandhi had raised “serious questions” about voter list manipulations, particularly citing data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that alleged over 100,250 fake votes in Mahadevapura, part of Bangalore Central. Gandhi claimed these votes, involving duplicate entries, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations, enabled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to secure the seat by a narrow margin of 32,707 votes.
Tharoor argued that since the data was sourced from the ECI itself, the commission should address these concerns directly rather than demanding formalities like a signed affidavit or oath from Gandhi. “What we want is answers, not attacks,” he asserted, calling the ECI’s insistence on procedural requirements unnecessary.
In a post on X, Tharoor reiterated, “We are all asking why @ECISVEEP could not give serious answers to the serious questions raised by @RahulGandhi, rather than insisting on formalities like an oath and an affidavit (when the data cited is all the EC’s own data anyway).” He stressed that the ECI has a responsibility to dispel doubts about the electoral process’s credibility, stating, “The integrity of the electoral system is essential and vital for our democracy. It is too precious for us to tamper with.”
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The ECI, in response to Gandhi’s claims on August 7, 2025, labeled them “misleading, factless, and threatening,” demanding a signed declaration to substantiate the allegations or an apology, as per PTI sources. The commission argued that falsified claims could lead to legal consequences, a stance Tharoor criticized as evasive. The BJP, meanwhile, dismissed Gandhi’s accusations as baseless, with leaders like Devendra Fadnavis and Baijayant Panda attributing them to Congress’s electoral losses and frustration.
The protest, which saw over 30 MPs, including Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sanjay Raut, and Sagarika Ghose, detained by Delhi Police for lacking permission, underscored the Opposition’s push for transparency. Tharoor’s support for Gandhi, despite past differences over issues like Operation Sindoor, signals a unified Congress stance on electoral integrity, with calls for judicial intervention growing louder.
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