India, Aug. 9 -- The face-off between Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Election Commission of India (ECI) intensified on Friday after the Congress leader rejected demands for a sworn affidavit on his charges of voter fraud in Karnataka and poll officials called the allegations absurd.

Gandhi on Thursday alleged that there were 100,250 "stolen" votes in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Bangalore (Central) parliamentary constituency that helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the seat in 2024, accusing ECI of "colluding" with the ruling party.

His presentation, which also included names of the voters involved, had prompted an immediate reaction from ECI, which had asked him to send a signed declarati...