Trump claims 'millions voted illegally' cost him popular vote

In an unprecedented move, US President-elect Donald Trump today alleged that "millions of people" voted illegally for Hillary Clinton that prevented him from winning the popular vote too, threatening a truce between them after their bitter White House race.

Trump, who offered no evidence for his claims, said that he would have won the popular votes in the US general election "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally".

"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," Trump said in a first of the series of tweets.
 

He alleged that serious voter fraud were committed in three States of Virginia, New Hampshire and California where he lost.

The allegation by Trump, who won the required votes in the Electoral College to secure the presidency, comes as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote over Trump has surpassed 2.0 million votes and is expected to grow to more than 2.5 million as ballots in populous states such as California continue to be tallied.

Clinton has 232 electoral college votes in her kitty as against 270 required to be declared as elected.

The Republican billionaire's allegations came as steps are being taken towards recounting of votes in the swing state of Wisconsin, which Trump won.

Earlier he described an impending recount of votes in Wisconsin as a "scam" and said the results of the presidential election should be respected instead of being challenged or "abused".

"It would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than the Electoral College in that I would only campaign in 3 or 4- - states instead of the 15 states that I visited. I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)!" Trump said in another tweet.

Soon he fired another tweet alleging voters fraud in three States. "Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California - so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias - big problem!" Trump said.