A public interest litigation has urged the Supreme Court to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that would be headed by a former judge to probe the 'vote theft' allegations raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
What does the PIL say?
The petition filed by advocated Rohit Pandey cited Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's August 7 press conference, where he alleged that the electoral rolls of Mahadevapura assembly constituency in Bengaluru was manipulated.
"The Petitioner became gravely concerned, as such actions, if true, strike at the core of the 'one person, one vote' principle enshrined under Articles 325 and 326 of the Constitution," the PIL said.
The petitioner said the PIL was filed after he found sufficient prima facie material to prove that there might be a "systemic attempt" to manipulate the votes, following which he decided to move the Supreme Court.
The petition urged the court to stop further revision or finalisation of electoral rolls until an independent audit is completed.
It also urged the court to issue guidelines to the Election Commission of India to ensure transparency, accountability and integrity in preparing the voters' list. The PIL also seeks direction to the poll panel to publish the electoral rolls in accessible, machine-readable and OCR-compliant formats so that it can be easily verified and audited.
Rahul had claimed that Bengaluru Central's Mahadevapura constituency has 40,009 invalid voters and 10,452 duplicate entries. In one instance, 80 votes in one polling station had the same address, raising concerns about the authenticity of the electoral rolls.