"When elections are near, such notices come": Congress leader Harish Rawat on CBI notice

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], September 20 (ANI): Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Friday welcomed the notice from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and urged the investigating agency to be given time till mid-October for physical appearance. He said that such summons had become a norm ahead of the elections to harass the opposition.
Speaking to ANI, Harish Rawat said, "When elections are near, such notices come, so I welcome the notice. I will respect your summons and appear before you..."
Earlier, Congress leader Harish Rawat on Thursday backed Rahul Gandhi's allegations of vote theft, stating that Gandhi has revealed a "harsh truth."
Speaking to ANI, the senior Congress leader accused the Election Commission of acting like a "political party" and accused them of avoiding answers to the questions posed to them.
Harish Rawat said, "...Rahul Gandhi has revealed a harsh truth that we've all sensed over the last few elections. The votes from a particular segment of society and followers of a specific ideology have been suddenly deleted... Additionally, many other names have been added with single-line addresses that are unverifiable. These votes are being added in large numbers and are being transferred from other places... This is a very serious issue. Instead of conducting an independent investigation, the Election Commission are dismissing these allegations and avoiding answering the questions posed to them. They are acting like a political party..."
This comes amid Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegations of an attempt at vote theft in Karnataka's Aland constituency. Addressing a press conference today, he claimed that there was an attempt to delete more than 6,000 voters' names from the Aland constituency in Karnataka.
The Election Commission has refuted the "vote chori" allegations made by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, stating that "no deletion of votes can be done online by any member of the public."
The poll body on Friday issued a point-wise press note stating that, "No wrongful deletion of electors in Aland". EC stated that no name is deleted from the roll without issuing a notice to the affected person. (ANI)