Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has hit back at the vote theft allegations raised by the Congress Party, stating that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar electoral rolls was aimed at removing all shortcomings in the voters' list, but “some parties and their leaders were spreading misinformation” in Bihar.
Kumar, in a press meet held in Delhi on Sunday, questioned how anybody could steal votes as the Lok Sabha election process involved more than one crore employees and over 20 lakh polling agents of candidates. “In such a transparent process in front of so many people, can any voter steal votes?..." the CEC added.
Stating that EC cannot discriminate among political parties, Mumar said: Every political party is born through registration with the Election Commission. Then how can the poll body discriminate among the same political parties? For the Election Commission, there is neither any opposition nor any party. All are equal. No matter who belongs to any political party, the Election Commission will not step back from its constitutional duty."
#WATCH | Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar says, "We saw a few days ago that photos of many voters were presented to the media without their permission. Allegations were made against them, they were used. Should the Election Commission share the CCTV videos of any… pic.twitter.com/WcOIBTSBMS
— ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2025
Flanked by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, Kumar argued that at the ground level, all voters, political parties, and booth-level officers are working together in a transparent manner, verifying, signing, and also giving video testimonials. “It is a matter of serious concern that these verified documents, testimonials of the district presidents of political parties and the BLOs nominated by them, are either not reaching their own state-level or national-level leaders, or an attempt is being made to spread confusion by ignoring the ground reality,” Kumar said.
“It is a matter of grave concern that some parties and their leaders are spreading misinformation on SIR in Bihar. EC exhorts all political parties to file claims and objections on draft electoral rolls in Bihar as 15 days are still remaining,” he said, then asked how anybody could question the credibility of the poll body when over seven crore voters of Bihar are standing with the Election Commission.
The clarifications come as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched 1,300-km 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' covering over 20 districts in Bihar on Sunday. He repeated his allegations that the ECI was "stealing" elections in collusion with the BJP, and asserted that the INDIA bloc will not let them succeed in their "conspiracy" to steal the Bihar Assembly polls.
#WATCH | Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar says, "...The three Election Commissioners will decide when the exercise of SIR will be carried out in West Bengal or other states" pic.twitter.com/9oHLuw4r5H
— ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2025
However, the CEC rubbished Rahul’s claims, adding that many voters, who alleged double voting, had no evidence to back up their claims. He alleged that some were “playing politics,” targeting the voters and the Election Commission. “The Election Commission wants to make it clear to everyone that the Election Commission fearlessly stood like a rock with all the voters of all sections and all religions, including the poor, rich, elderly, women, and youth, without any discrimination,” he said.
He said there was a provision in the law that permitted political parties can go to the Supreme Court and file a petition to challenge the election.
The CEC added that the poll body will decide soon on conducting SIR in West Bengal. “We three (election) commissioners will decide at an appropriate time and take a decision on when to conduct SIR in West Bengal or other states,” Gyanesh Kumar said. “It will be announced at an appropriate time.”
