"Former Election Commissioners voice their opinions on CEC's comments, stating that no affidavit or apology is required from Rahul Gandhi"

In a recent development, three former Election Commissioners (ECs) have expressed their disapproval of the current Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, for demanding an affidavit or apology from Rahul Gandhi regarding "vote theft" allegations. The former ECs, SY Qureshi, OP Rawat, and Ashok Lavasa, believe that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is responsible for verifying any allegations about the electoral process or mechanism.

During a press conference, CEC Kumar stated that there is no third option other than filing an affidavit or apologising to the country regarding the "vote theft" allegations. However, the former ECs believe that the onus lies on the ECI to immediately sort out any issue at hand.

Former EC Rawat added that the ECI should always take any doubt expressed by any stakeholder seriously and immediately investigate to ensure no clouds of doubt build up. Lavasa further stated that if serious allegations are made about the ECI's data, the ECI has a responsibility to investigate them.

Qureshi suggested that if similar allegations were made during his tenure, an inquiry would have been ordered and the matter taken seriously. He also stated that Rahul Gandhi, as the leader of the opposition, is not voicing his own opinion but the opinion of millions of people.

Lavasa believes that any constitutional body, including the ECI, cannot allow a doubt to hang in the air regarding the integrity of the electoral roll. He further stated that no affidavit is required to draw the attention of the commission to an irregularity.

The Supreme Court has reiterated and ordered the ECI to consider Aadhaar card as the 12th document for the purpose of the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR). During previous hearings, the Supreme Court had asked the commission to make public the list of 65 lakh names of deleted voters to allow them proper time to make representation against the same.

However, there are no relevant search results regarding the actions taken by India's Election Commission related to investigations or handling of "vote withdrawal" allegations. This has raised concerns among the former ECs, who believe that the ECI should have immediately worked to clear the doubts raised about the "vote theft" allegations.

CEC Kumar, in his defence, stated that India has the largest population and voter turnout in the world, and that it is not possible to accuse all voters of criminal offenses based on the assumption that a voter's name appearing more than once indicates double voting.

The debate continues, with the former ECs calling for transparency and prompt action, and the CEC maintaining that the allegations are baseless and that the ECI is taking all necessary steps to ensure a fair and free election.