Coming down hard on the Election Commission of India (ECI) for its response on “vote theft” allegations, former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi on Sunday (September 14, 2025) said the poll body should have ordered a probe into Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s charges instead of “shouting” at him in a language that was “objectionable and offensive”.
In an interview with PTI, Mr. Quraishi said much of the terms used by Mr. Gandhi while making the allegations such as likening them to a "hydrogen bomb" were "political rhetoric" but asserted that the complaints which he was raising need to be investigated in detail.
The former Chief Election Commissioner slammed the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the manner in which it carried out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, and said it is not only “opening a pandora’s box” but the poll body has put its hand in the “hornet’s nest” which will hurt it.
‘Vote chori’ scripted abroad, alleges BJP; ‘ridiculous’, says Congress
“You know when I hear any criticism of the ECI, I feel very concerned and very hurt not only as a citizen of India but also because having been the CEC myself, I have also laid a brick or two in that institution,” he told PTI ahead of the launch of his new book ‘Democracy’s Heartland’ published by Juggernaut Books.
