Expressing suspicion about âvote theftâ in Bantwal Assembly constituency, where he got defeated in two elections, senior Congress leader and KPCC vice president B. Ramanath Rai on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to take steps to ensure error-free electoral roll across the country in light of the allegation made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Talking to reporters at the Congress party office in Mangaluru, Mr. Rai said, âThe cause of my defeat (twice in Bantwal Assembly constituency) might be âvote theftâ. This could be reflected if the 10-year record related to changes in the electoral roll, as sought by Mr. Gandhi, is provided by the Election Commission. I will not speak about it now,â he said and added, âIn light of allegations made by Mr. Gandhi, it is the responsibility of the Election Commission to take steps to ensure the electoral roll is free from errorsâ.
When asked whether the party at the booth level failed to notice âvoter duplicationâ and other errors in the electoral roll, Mr. Rai said there will be last-minute additions to the electoral roll, and the booth-level workers of the party will be unaware of this addition. Ultimately, it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure there were no errors in the electoral roll, he said.
