Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Sunday criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI), asserting that it is “not a court” and should not function like one when handling petitions or complaints.
In a post on X, Chidambaram stated, “The ECI is not a Court and cannot behave like a Court in entertaining petitions/complaints. ECI is an administrative body with responsibility for holding free and fair elections.”
Clarifying the scope of Rule 20(3)(b), he noted it applies only to cases involving an Electoral Registration Officer’s decision to accept or reject a claim for inclusion in the electoral roll—not to allegations of large-scale manipulation in an entire constituency’s rolls.
Citing a report by The Hindu, Chidambaram alleged that complaints from Booth Level Agents in Bihar were being ignored. “If this allegation is true… refusal to entertain complaints will spell the death of democratic elections,” he warned, adding that the ECI owes a duty to both political parties and voters.
The criticism comes amid an ongoing row over Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s “vote theft” allegations. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka, in a letter dated August 10, asked Gandhi to submit documents supporting his claims from his August 7 press conference, in which he alleged that a voter named Shakun Rani cast her vote twice.
The Karnataka CEO stated that a preliminary inquiry found Shakun Rani denied voting twice, and the tick-marked document presented by Gandhi was not issued by a polling officer, raising concerns over its authenticity. Gandhi has been asked to provide evidence for a detailed investigation.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has reiterated that Gandhi still has time to respond to notices from the CEOs of Karnataka and Haryana or issue an apology to the nation.
