New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, demanding either an affidavit supporting his allegations of “vote theft” or a public apology to the nation. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar stated that there is “no third option” and warned that failure to provide the affidavit within the stipulated time would render the allegations baseless.

Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of aiding the BJP by inflating electoral rolls with fake voters and engaging in various malpractices. He claimed that a survey in Karnataka revealed six major irregularities: duplicate entries of the same voter, voters listed in multiple states, fake addresses, bulk voter entries at a single address, unclear photos on voter IDs, and misuse of Form 6 for first-time voters.

Earlier today, Gandhi launched the 1,300-km ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram in Bihar to highlight alleged manipulation of electoral rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. He warned of a “new conspiracy” to distort voter lists by deleting and adding names.

The Election Commission has strongly denied these allegations, stating that electoral rolls are being prepared lawfully and transparently. It also flagged a Congress video as AI-generated and misleading. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has directed the Commission to accept Aadhaar as proof for individuals challenging the removal of their names from the rolls. The EC recently removed 65 lakh names from draft lists, citing reasons such as duplication, death, or migration.