Mumbai, April 3 Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Friday said while the Congress' allegations of "vote theft" were valid, its leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge need to provide evidence to support their claims.
Speaking to reporters, he said their claims would only carry weight if backed by verifiable data presented before a court.
"Rahul Gandhi's 'vote theft' campaign is correct. However, in which constituencies were the names of the voters who were deleted listed? How many names were excluded? If this had been shown and provided, their campaign would have gained credibility," Ambedkar said.
The results of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections were "fabricated, illegal, and unconstitutional," he said, stressing that any such claims must be proven through proper legal channels.
Courts are the only platform where such data can be tested and verified. People should not be misled by unverified assertions, he said.
He said Gandhi and Kharge had not given adequate thought to substantiating their allegations, and they should do so.
Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has repeatedly targeted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing them of engaging in massive voter fraud in various assembly elections.
Gandhi had previously accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of "protecting" those allegedly attempting to delete voters' names, citing instances in Karnataka's Mahadevapura assembly seat and Maharashtra's Rajura constituency. The ECI rejected the allegations as incorrect and baseless.