Finding massive irregularity during "standard fraud checks", the White House has removed at least 85,000 signatures from an on-line petition which asked US President Barack Obama to cancel his planned meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month.
"On August 10, our standard fraud checks indicated a high number of anomalous signatures on this petition. After follow-up evaluation, a number of petition signatures were removed because they violated the We the People Terms of Participation," Caitlin Hayden, spokesperson of the National Security Council of White House told PTI.
The New York-based Sikh for Justice (SFJ) had launched a "We the People" petition on the White House website last month urging Obama to cancel his meeting with Modi in September.
In less than 24 hours, the White House based on the results of its fraud check removed thousands of signatures as a result of which the number of signatures on the anti-Modi petition came down to a little over 1,300 on August 13.
A day later, the number of signatures on the petition was less than 14,500.
"Users following the Terms of Participation can still sign the petition, and if the petition garners 100,000 (non-fraudulent) signatures before the deadline, it will receive an official response," Hayden said.
To receive a response from the White House, the petition needs to be signed by more than 100,000 people by August 20.
"We regularly evaluate a variety of factors for indications of potential fraud, but to ensure we never remove valid signatures, we investigate thoroughly to identify the clear-cut cases of fraud, which takes time."
"We'll continue to evaluate signatures on all petitions for fraudulent activity," Hayden said, indicating that the White House detected massive fraud in signatures on the anti-Modi petition.
"The road to justice is not perpetrating fraud by 99 per cent and still expect to be treated as if 99.9999 pure gold. The fraud in the numbers claimed by SFJ's anti-Modi petition was caught and exposed by our White House is a compelling and lasting rebuke for those who wish to engage in public policy by committing a fraud upon the public and our government and still expect not to be laughed out of civil society," Attorney Ravi Batra said.
Batra, who has successfully defeated several lawsuits filed by Sikh for Justice including those against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said: "SFJ's misbehavior and ill-advised lawsuits and actions dishonor India's proud heritage of a civilisation that granted full freedom to thought, learning, and religion while protecting minorities".
The Sikh for Justice strongly disputed the allegations of fraud being committed on its signature campaign and alleged that the White House decisions in this regard are arbitrary.
