In a dramatic political escalation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday issued a strong statement condemning allegations made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who accused the poll body of enabling large-scale voter fraud in Bihar during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Terming the remarks “baseless” and “irresponsible,” the ECI stated, “The Election Commission ignores such baseless allegations being made every day and, despite the threats being given every day, it asks all election officials who are working in a fair and transparent manner to not pay heed to such irresponsible statements.”

The response comes a day after Rahul Gandhi—now the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha—publicly accused the Election Commission of being complicit in what he called “vote theft” aimed at helping the ruling BJP. “We have open-and-shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in this vote theft. And I’m not saying this lightly; I’m speaking with 100 percent proof,” Gandhi asserted at a press conference.

He further claimed, “When we release it, the entire country will come to know that the Election Commission is enabling vote theft. And who are they doing it for? They’re doing it for the BJP.”

Gandhi revealed that his party conducted an independent six-month investigation into suspected irregularities after receiving no cooperation from the ECI. “Since the Election Commission was not helpful in the investigation, we did our own. It took six months and the things we found are an ‘Atom Bomb’... when this atom bomb explodes, you won’t see Election Commission in the country,” he warned.

The Congress party has said it will soon present its evidence, which it claims will shake public confidence in the neutrality of the electoral process. Meanwhile, BJP leaders have dismissed Gandhi’s remarks as an “attempt to undermine democratic institutions out of political frustration.”