Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of overstepping its mandate and behaving like a judicial authority while handling complaints and petitions.

In a series of posts on X, Chidambaram asserted, “The ECI is not a Court and cannot behave like a Court in entertaining petitions/complaints. ECI is an administrative body with the responsibility of holding free and fair elections.”

Referring to Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the former Union Minister clarified that the provision applies only when an Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) accepts or rejects an individual’s claim to be included in the voter list. He stressed that the rule has no relevance in cases involving alleged large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls for an entire assembly constituency.

Chidambaram also reminded the poll panel of its wider responsibility. “The Election Commission owes a duty not just to political parties, but to every voter in the country,” he said.

The remarks come in the backdrop of a brewing controversy involving Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer recently wrote to Gandhi, seeking documentary evidence to support his explosive claim that a voter named Shakun Rani had cast her ballot twice in last year’s Lok Sabha elections.

The CEO’s letter cited Gandhi’s press conference remarks, where he presented documents he described as “EC data” and claimed they showed two votes recorded against the same ID card. Gandhi alleged that the tick marks in the records were made by the polling booth officer. The letter urged Gandhi to submit the documents “so that a detailed enquiry can be conducted.”