The Election Commission in a letter to Congress president Kharge that his statements on the voter turnout data were “unwarranted and reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion on credibility of the electoral steps”.
Kharge had written to INDIA bloc leaders claiming discrepancies in voter turnout data. The Election Commission (ECI) said on Friday that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks on the release of voter turnout data were designed to create confusion and impediments to free and fair elections.
The poll body said in a letter to Kharge that his statements were “unwarranted and reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion on credibility of the electoral steps”.
Earlier this week, the Congress chief had written a letter to leaders of the INDIA bloc and claimed that there were discrepancies in the voting data released by the poll body. He shared the letter on X and had said that the “credibility of the Election Commission” was at an all-time low.
The poll body said in its letter that Kharge had “articulated statements which are actually verifiable and thus within knowledge to be incorrect, aimed at pushing a biased narrative, in the face of verifiable facts, as well as settled judicial decisions” by the Supreme Court.
The Election Commission further said that it found a “pattern in creating false narrative” from the Congress during the elections in the past. It highlighted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala’s claims during the Karnataka Assembly elections that the electronic voting machines (EVM) used in the polls were previously deployed in South Africa.