NEW DELHI, 24 JULY

The Congress has "concrete 100 per cent proof" that the Election Commission allowed cheating in a constituency in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi claimed on Thursday and warned the poll panel that it will not get away with this "because we are going to come for you". Gandhi alleged that the poll panel is not functioning as the Election Commission of India (EC) and is "not doing its job".

In response, the EC asked why Gandhi had chosen to threaten a Constitutional body. A spokesperson of the EC wondered as to why such "baseless and threatening allegations are being made against the CEC and that too now".

Asked about the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav's reported remarks that the option of boycotting the Bihar assembly polls was open, Gandhi told reporters that his party has "concrete 100 per cent proof" of the EC allowing cheating in a seat in Karnataka.

"Not 90 per cent, when we decide to show it to you, it is a 100 per cent proof," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

"We just looked at one constituency, and we found this. I am absolutely convinced that constituency after constituency, this is the drama that is taking place. Thousands and thousands of new voters, how old are they? -- 45, 50, 60, 65, thousands and thousands of them in one constituency. This is one thing, voter deletion, voter addition, new voters who are way above 18 (is going on)... so we have caught them," Gandhi told reporters in Parliament House premises.

The Congress leader on Wednesday had alleged that elections are being "stolen" in India and claimed that his party has figured out the modus operandi of the "vote theft" by studying a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka.

Responding to Gandhi's statement, the EC said it is "highly unfortunate" that rather than filing an election petition following section 80 of the Representation of the People Act, or if filed, awaiting the verdict of the high court, he has not only made "baseless allegations" but also "chosen to threaten" a Constitutional body.

The EC said as far as the Karnataka electoral rolls of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls are concerned, not a single appeal was filed with any of the district magistrates or the Chief Electoral Officer of the State -- a valid legal remedy available to the Congress under section 24 of the RP Act.