Opposition MPs have dubbed chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar a “BJP spokesman” for his comments at Sunday’s news conference but indicated they had not decided yet whether to move for his impeachment.

Addressing a Vote Adhikar Yatra rally in Gaya on Monday evening, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said the Election Commission’s (EC) “theft has been caught” and scoffed at its demand that he make his allegations of voter list anomalies under oath.

In his first media conference after taking over as CEC, Kumar did not name any party or politician but termed the allegations of voter list manipulation as “disrespect towards India’s Constitution”.

He also dismissed criticism of the document-based citizenship verification under the sudden special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls, saying: “Bihar’s over 7 crore electors are standing up for the EC...”

Rahul, addressing the Gaya crowd in the rain, said: “They are responsible. Their theft has been caught. They ask me to give an affidavit? Soon the whole country will ask them for affidavits. In every state, parliamentary and Assembly seat, we will expose their vote chori.”

He went on: “Bihar’s public will tell the EC and BJP leaders that they won’t allow vote theft in Bihar.... One day, INDIA will be in power in Bihar and Delhi and we will act against these three election commissioners.”

Rahul had recently alleged that an Assembly constituency in Bengaluru featured more than one lakh fake voters during last year’s parliamentary polls. The poll panel has asked him to prove the allegation for each such voter on oath.

Kumar on Sunday justified not issuing similar directions to BJP parliamentarian Anurag Thakur — who had made similar allegations relating to constituencies of Opposition leaders in several states — calling it a “graded response”.

On Monday, 10 Opposition parties said in a statement that “...it is now clear, that those who lead the ECI divert and thwart any attempt at a meaningful inquiry into voter fraud and instead opt to intimidate those who challenge the ruling party”.

RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha said: “Our objections come from the strength of this book — India’s Constitution. The honourable CEC says that we are questioning him, (that) we are questioning the Constitution…. You are speaking like (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji, that criticism of him is the criticism of India.”

Jha added: “Don’t tear this book while taking cover behind it. This book is for protection, a safeguard. It cannot be a shield for your defiance of constitutional propriety and morality…. Yesterday, we were looking for our CEC. We didn’t find him: we found a new BJP spokesperson.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentarian Arvind Sawant too said that the CEC “was behaving like a BJP spokesman”.

Asked about possible impeachment, Jha replied: “All parliamentary and legal alternatives are open to us.”

Gaurav Gogoi, Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, replied to the same question, saying: “This has been discussed. There is a lot of agreement on this and an appropriate decision will be taken at the appropriate time.”

He added: “In its press conference yesterday, the EC raised questions about the political parties when they (EC) had to explain why they were conducting SIR in a hurry. EC was silent on SIR in Bihar. They were also silent on how new 70 lakh voters were added between Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections…. It is clear that the EC is under such officials who are not unbiased.”

Asked why the Congress government in Karnataka had not begun an investigation into Rahul’s allegations, Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain told The Telegraph: “We will file FIRs, and we have also complained to the chief electoral officer.”

CPM Rajya Sabha member John Brittas said: “An imperfect voter list compromises the fairness and integrity of democratic discourse. We, the Opposition parties… firmly believe that the CEC has forfeited his right to be in that constitutional position, and he has virtually declared war on the Opposition parties in his press conference.”

Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav contradicted the CEC’s claim that complaints about the deletion of 18,000 voters in 2022 had not been made on oath. He displayed a stamp paper on which one such complaint had been.

Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav posted on X images of purported receipts of the party’s complaints from the poll panel, which has not acted on them.

Ram Gopal raised further questions about the poll authorities’ role, alleging that during the Mainpuri by-elections (2022) in Uttar Pradesh, “all SDMs (sub-divisional magistrates), circle officers (COs of the police), and SHOs (station house officers of the police) were only from one community — the CM’s community. COs and SDMs were around in their vehicles chasing away voters from booths.”

BJP leader Adityanath has been the chief minister since 2017.

AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said: “You (CEC) say women’s privacy is violated (if CCTV footage of polling is revealed). When queues of women line up to vote… you show them from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and take their interviews. Doesn’t that violate their privacy?”

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra said: “We are only pointing out flaws in your documents. Are you asking us to authenticate your own documents by submitting an affidavit?

“Can the CEC submit an affidavit that this list of 65 lakh deletions (from the draft rolls for Bihar) is absolutely correct? If this list is correct, then you cannot submit an affidavit claiming that the (existing voter) list with ‘22 lakh deaths not recorded’ was accurate. Only one of these lists can be correct.”

DMK Rajya Sabha member Tiruchi Siva said: “Our concern is why CEC is carrying out SIR in Bihar in a hasty manner…. Why is the addition of new voters abnormally low?”