Booths' CCTV Footage Review Will Take 273 Years: EC

A war of words has broken out on social media between the Election Commission of India and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the latter allegations of fraud in the voters' list.

In a riposte, the commission called Rahul's accusations as misleading. It has negated the charge of not making available voters' list in a digital format, citing a Supreme Court judgement in 2019, and that of not supplying CCTV footage of polling booths on the impracticality ground.

"Indian National Congress plea for providing machine readable voter list was rejected by the "Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kamal Nath vs ECi, 2019'', it said.

On the CCTV, it said that footage is retained only if a candidate files an election petition within 45 days of the poll. It serves no other purpose unless someone intends to breach voter privacy, it clarified.

It further said that reviewing CCTV footage from one lakh polling stations would take one lakh days, which translate into approximately 273 years with no legal outcome possible, the commission said in its post on X.

The commission asked Rahul Gandhi to apologise to the nation or file claims and objections against specific voters in an affidavit as per the Registration of Electoral Rules.

Rahul has refused to file an affidavit, stating that he had taken oath as people's representative in Parliament.