NEW DELHI: The chief electoral officers (CEO) of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana, reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “massive voter fraud” during the 2024 Lok Sabha poll in Karnataka and the latest assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, have said they would initiate the necessary proceedings after he declares under oath that he believes the wrongful inclusions and exclusions cited by him to be “true to the best of his knowledge and belief”.“You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed declaration/oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated,” the three CEOs said in separate letters sent to Rahul.EC sources said the CEOs were expecting to receive the signed declarations from Rahul by Thursday evening. “Else, they will keep reminding him to submit these at the earliest, so his claims can be investigated,” said a commission official.“Rahul should either sign the declaration and preferably post it on social media, or stop misleading the people with baseless allegations against EC. Why is he running away from signing the oath, which is being sought in accordance with the rules? The law is the same for a politician and any other citizen,” the official told TOI.Rule 20(3)b of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 states that the registration officer may require that the evidence tendered by a person regarding wrongful inclusion/exclusion from the roll, be given on oath.The evidence sought from Rahul under his oath must include the name of the person cited for inclusion/exclusion, his part number of electoral roll and his serial number in the roll. Rahul must also declare that he understands that presenting false evidence or making a false declaration in connection with the electoral roll shall invite a jail term of up to three years (seven years if the false claims are repeated in court) under Section 227/229 of BNS and up to a year’s imprisonment under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.The Karnataka CEO is due to meet a Congress delegation in Bengaluru on Friday. Sources said he would insist on a signed declaration before the alleged “voter fraud” can be probed.Notwithstanding the allegations, the election results in the three states will hold since the window for filing a challenge via an election petition is long over. Significantly, Congress was given copies of the draft as well as final electoral roll for Karnataka, Haryana and Maharashtra ahead of the last LS/assembly polls, but not a single appeal was filed against entries in the final roll at the level of the district magistrate or the CEO.Incidentally, a Congress govt was in office in Karnataka during the annual summary revision of the Karnataka roll ahead of the LS polls. The officials involved in roll revision – electoral registration officers (EROs), assistant EROs, booth level officers (BLOs), etc – are essentially state govt officials, though under the superintendence of EC for the duration of the roll update.
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