Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s fresh allegations of irregularities in voters’ list, including in an assembly segment in Maharashtra, triggered a war of words between the ruling and Opposition parties, with the latter on Thursday demanding Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ resignation.
Opposition NCP (SP) said Mr. Gandhi’s charges raised a question mark over the integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and sought an independent inquiry by the poll body into them.
Accusing the ECI of double standards, the Congress demanded CM Fadnavis’ resignation, saying he had no moral right to continue in office after Mr. Gandhi exposed “vote theft” in the Rajura assembly constituency of Chandrapur district.
Taking forward his “vote theft” claims, Mr. Gandhi on Thursday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who “destroyed democracy” and cited data from a Karnataka assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.
He also gave the example of the Rajura seat, where he claimed voters were added in a fraudulent manner using automated software.
