India, Aug. 17 -- The Election Commission of India (EC) on Sunday cited privacy concerns of voters to argue why it has not shared CCTV footage from polling booths in recent elections, even after serious allegations of irregularities levied by the Opposition led by Rahul Gandhi.

Criticising the use of phrases like "vote chori (theft)", Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar was combative at a press conference in Delhi. HE said "unsuccessful efforts to mislead the voters" amounted to "nothing less than an insult of the Constitution".

He spoke specifically on why machine-readable voter lists had not been provided to parties, such as the Congress, that have alleged fake names and multiple entries.

"The Supreme Court has already he...