New Delhi: The Election Commission has termed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar as false and baseless. Rahul has alleged that CEC Gyanesh Kumar is protecting “vote thieves.”
Responding to these allegations, the Commission said on Thursday, “The allegations made by Rahul Gandhi are false and baseless. No member of the public can delete any vote online, as Gandhi has falsely claimed.”
The Election Commission also refuted Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the names of more than 6,000 voters were deleted from the Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka. Rahul alleged that the deletions were specifically targeted at polling stations where the Congress party was winning. Refuting the Congress MP’s allegations, the Election Commission stated that no ordinary person can delete any vote online, as Rahul Gandhi has falsely claimed and is trying to mislead people. The Election Commission stated that a person’s vote cannot be deleted without providing the affected person an opportunity to be heard.
The Commission also stated that in 2023, some unsuccessful attempts were made to delete voters’ names in the Aland Assembly constituency, and an FIR was filed by the Commission to investigate the matter. The Election Commission stated, “As per records, Subhadh Guttedar (BJP) won the Aland Assembly constituency in 2018 and BR Patil (Congress) won in 2023.”
What are Rahul Gandhi’s allegations?
Earlier, addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said, “The Election Commission is protecting those who have destroyed India’s democracy. I am going to demonstrate the process of adding and deleting votes and how it is done.”
Referring to the Aland Assembly constituency, he said, “Aland is a constituency in Karnataka. Someone tried to delete 6,018 votes. We don’t know the total number of votes deleted in Aland in the 2023 elections. The number is likely much higher than 6,018.”
Rahul said, “But someone was caught deleting 6,018 votes, and like most crimes, it was caught by chance. It so happened that a booth-level officer (BLO) noticed that his uncle’s vote had been deleted. So, he investigated who deleted his uncle’s vote and discovered it was a neighbor. However, neither the person deleting the vote nor the person whose vote was deleted knew it; someone else hijacked the process and deleted the votes, and, unfortunately, was caught.”
Rahul Gandhi claimed that the people who allegedly filed these applications had not actually filed them at all. He said, “The top 10 booths with the highest number of vote deletions were Congress strongholds. Congress won 8 of these 10 booths in 2018. This was no coincidence; it was a well-planned campaign.”
Allegations of Withholding Information from the CID
Informing about the ongoing investigation into the matter in Karnataka, he said, “The Karnataka CID has sent 18 letters to the Election Commission over 18 months, asking for some very simple facts, including the destination IP address from which these forms were filled. But they are not providing them. Why are they not providing them? Because that would tell us where the operation is being carried out. We are absolutely sure where this will lead.”
Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Kumar of protecting “vote thieves” and those who destroy democracy. Citing data from Karnataka assembly constituencies, Rahul claimed that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted before the elections.
Rahul Gandhi said, “While all this was going on, the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka wrote to the Election Commission in Delhi and informed them about the matter. But he received no response. Now this is solid proof that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is protecting those involved. It is also solid proof that I have shown you that this is being done in a centralized manner, it is being done on a large scale, and huge resources are being used for this.”
Taking a dig at the Election Commission, he said, “The Election Commission knows who is doing this. When the Election Commission is not providing information, they are killing democracy. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is not telling the CID who is doing this? The same is happening in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Haryana. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should stop protecting those who are killing democracy.”
He said, “We demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar hand over the evidence in this case to the Karnataka CID within a week. He should do his job as he has taken an oath to the Constitution.”
He stressed that it is his duty to tell the truth to the country. He further said, “I am fighting to protect the Constitution and democracy. India’s democracy has been ‘hijacked’. Only the people of India can save democracy.”
