The Election Commission (EC) will hold a press conference on Sunday amid the allegations of ‘vote theft’ made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and continuous opposition from opposition parties over the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar.
Apart from the announcement of the election schedule, calling a press conference by the Election Commission on any other issue is an unusual thing in itself.
The theme of the press conference has not been clarified yet, but the officials have said that it is related to the allegations against the Election Commission. Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of rigging the voter-related data. They allege that ‘vote theft’ has taken place in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana.
The Commission has asked the Congress leader to present the names of those people, who claims that they have been incorrectly linked or removed in the voter list, as well as to present a signed manifesto.
The Election Commission has even said that if the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha fails to give an affidavit in support of his allegations, then they will have to apologize.
Opposition parties are also raising questions about the Election Commission’s move for special intensive revision (SIR) of voter list in Bihar. Opposition parties claim that crores of eligible citizens will be denied the franchise in the absence of papers.
The Supreme Court has also asked the Election Commission to publish the details of 65 lakh names removed from the voter list to increase transparency in the voter list in Bihar.