New Delhi [India], June 10 (ANI): Congress party’s general secretary (Organisation), KC Venugopal said on Monday that after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defended the Election Commission of India (ECI), after Congress raised allegations of “match fixing” in the Maharashtra assembly elections, has only “confirmed people’s suspicions.”
“BJP top brass coming out in its defence only confirmed the people’s suspicions of match fixing between BJP and the ECI,” Venugopal said.
Venugopal also took a jibe at ECI for realising that their “rock-bottom credibility” can only be salvaged by acceding to the opposition’s demands.
“It is good that the ECI realised that its rock-bottom credibility will not be salvaged by issuing anonymous, unsigned letters – but by acceding to the opposition’s demands,” he said in a post on X.
https://x.com/kcvenugopalmp/status/1932077671695216663
Hitting out at the BJP, he said that the party has been systematically trying to hide the CCTV footage by changing the election rules in December.
“The vague, boilerplate responses from ECI don’t address the key issues highlighted by Rahul ji in his article. There has also been a systematic attempt by the BJP to hide CCTV footage – for which it amended Election Rules in December. What does it have to hide that polling booth footage is being kept secret? Does it not raise further doubts about them having something to hide?” his post read.
He further echoed Rahul Gandhi’s earlier demand of releasing the CCTV footage so that people can know the truth.
“Until voter rolls for Maharashtra are released in a machine-readable format, and CCTV footage for the final hours of voting is made public – the people will not know the truth about the massive rigging in the Maharashtra assembly elections,” Venugopal said.
Earlier, Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer replied to the allegations of not releasing electoral rolls, saying that the rolls are revised annually and given to recognized political parties free of cost every election cycle.
“Electoral rolls are revised annually through a participatory exercise. During this annual exercise, the electoral rolls are shared, free of cost, with recognized political parties, including INC, first at draft stage and second time after its finalization. The similar exercise was done in 2009, 2014, 2019, and 2024 and copies of such electoral rolls were then shared with INC, as well as other political parties,” an official statement from Maharashtra’s CEO office said.
The statement added, “A complete copy of electoral roll used in general elections to Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra-2024 is also available one website for public to freely download. Even for earlier electoral rolls, a copy of finalized electoral rolls is retained by district election officer as well. Under Rule 33 of the registration of Electors Rules, 1960, any person, including INC, can apply to the concerned District Election Officer and get a copy of such on payment of prescribed fee.”
Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had earlier called upon the Election Commission to publish consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states, including Maharashtra, saying that “telling the truth” will protect the poll panel’s credibility. (ANI)
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