Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, made serious allegations against the Election Commission in a press conference on Thursday. He claimed that large-scale deletions of voter names from Congress-held booths were carried out during the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.
Rahul Gandhi stated that this was not done by an individual, but through centralized software and fake login-phone numbers. He stated that “millions of voters across the country are being systematically targeted and deleted, especially those who voted for the opposition.”
Election Commission’s clarification
Regarding Gandhi’s allegations, Election Commission sources stated that these allegations are “false and baseless.”
- The Election Commission clarified that no vote can be deleted online without giving the person concerned an opportunity to be heard.
- In 2023, there were unsuccessful attempts to delete votes in the Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka, and the ECI itself filed an FIR in this regard.
- The Commission also stated that the Aland seat was won by BJP’s Subhash Guttedar in 2018, while Congress’s BR Patil won in 2023.
Rahul Gandhi’s Evidence and Allegations
Gandhi claimed that an attempt was made to delete 6,018 votes in the Aland constituency. He stated that this fraud was detected when a booth-level officer noticed that his uncle’s name was missing from the voter list and that his neighbor’s name had also been deleted, though neither was aware of it.
Gandhi stated that in this case, attempts were made to delete votes using fake identities, and the applicants were unaware of this.
Election Commission Attack
During the conference, Gandhi directly targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He alleged that the Karnataka CID wrote 18 letters to the Election Commission in 18 months seeking information on deleted votes, but the data was not shared.
According to him, “If this data had been provided, we would have known where this operation was being carried out. This is solid proof that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting those who are attacking democracy.”
Emotional Appeal by Showing a Copy of the Constitution
Gandhi made an emotional appeal to the youth, holding a copy of the Constitution. He said, “They are attacking our Constitution, which is the foundation of your future. Jobs, future, and your dreams come from it. When the Election Commission is not sharing this data, they are protecting those who are murdering democracy.”
He also alleged that fake votes were added in some areas, while others were deleted. But the pattern was the same—phone numbers were from outside, and the people whose names were used were unaware of it.
