Rahul alleges mass voter deletions; EC rejects charges

NEW DELHI: Stepping up his offensive against the Election Commission of India, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged mass deletion of voters from Congress strongholds in Karnataka during the 2023 Assembly election.

He claimed that these voter IDs were deleted using fake logins and phone numbers from outside the state. Gandhi further alleged that the deletions were carried out not by individuals, but through software in a centralised manner.

Accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those involved in “vote chori” and of “destroying democracy,” Gandhi cited data from Aland to allege that votes of Congress supporters were systematically removed in a targeted manner.

The Election Commission, however, dismissed the allegations as “incorrect and baseless,” stating that no voter can be deleted without giving the affected person an opportunity to be heard. The EC noted that in 2023, “certain unsuccessful attempts” were made to delete electors in the Aland Assembly constituency, and an FIR was filed by the EC itself to investigate the matter.

“As per records, Aland Assembly Constituency was won by Subhadh Guttedar (BJP) in 2018 and B.R. Patil (INC) in 2023,” it added.

The BJP, in turn, said Gandhi’s repeated charges against constitutional institutions reflected his and the Congress party’s lack of faith in Indian democracy.

Mounting another attack on the Election Commission, Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the poll panel must provide within a week the information sought by the Karnataka CID in its investigation into voter deletions.

“If not, it will be clear that it is complicit in the ‘murder of the Constitution’,” Gandhi alleged at a press conference at the Congress’ Indira Bhawan headquarters.

“I am going to make a serious claim about Gyanesh Kumar. I am not saying this lightly. I am the Leader of the Opposition. The CEC is protecting ‘vote chors’ and those who have destroyed Indian democracy,” he said.

“This has been going on for 10–15 years. India’s democracy has been hijacked. Democracy can only be saved by the people of India. Rahul Gandhi can show the truth. The day people realise their democracy and Constitution have been stolen, the job will be done,” he added.

Gandhi cited alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in Karnataka’s Aland constituency ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls. He also pointed to Maharashtra’s Rajura constituency, where he claimed 6,850 voters were added “fraudulently” using automated software.

“The same system is doing this. It is happening in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar — and we have proof,” Gandhi said.

“Our demand is that Gyanesh Kumar must do his job. He has taken an oath. As India’s Chief Election Commissioner, he must provide evidence to the Karnataka CID,” he added.

Speaking about the Aland case, Gandhi alleged that targeted deletions took place in Congress strongholds. “The top 10 booths with the highest deletions were Congress strongholds. Congress won eight of those 10 booths in 2018. This was not a coincidence; it was a planned operation,” he said.

Gandhi added that his disclosures marked another step in showing the youth how elections in the country were being “rigged.” He alleged that millions of voters, especially minorities and Dalits, were being systematically targeted for deletion.

In Aland, Gandhi said, someone attempted to delete 6,018 votes and was caught “by coincidence.” He narrated that a booth-level officer discovered her uncle’s vote had been deleted and traced it to her neighbour, who denied involvement. “It was found that some other force hijacked the process and deleted the vote — and as luck would have it, got caught,” Gandhi claimed.

He further alleged that 6,018 applications impersonating voters were filed automatically using mobile numbers from outside Karnataka, with forms being filled within seconds during early hours of the day.

Pointing out that the Karnataka CID has sent 18 letters in 18 months to the EC seeking basic data — such as the IP addresses and OTP trails used for the applications — Gandhi accused the Commission of withholding information to shield those responsible.

“EC knows who is doing this. I want every youngster in India to know this. They are doing this to your future. By refusing to provide this information, they are defending the murderers of democracy,” Gandhi said.

He added that it would take two to three months for Congress to complete its research and presentations on alleged “vote chori.”

“When we finish, you will have no doubt that elections state after state, and Lok Sabha after Lok Sabha, are being stolen. My job is to lay bare the truth before the people,” Gandhi said.

“This Constitution is the protector of the people and I am protecting it. The responsibility lies with institutions, but they are not fulfilling it,” he added.

Asked who the mastermind was, Gandhi said he would reveal that too, promising a “hydrogen bomb” of revelations that would put everything “in black and white.”

Last month, Gandhi had cited data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, alleging that over one lakh votes were “stolen through manipulation” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, calling “vote chori” an “atom bomb on our democracy.”

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also raised questions in a post on X, asking why the EC had not shared crucial data with the CID despite 18 reminders in 18 months. “Why are details like IP addresses, device ports, OTPs not being provided? By obstructing the investigation, whom does the EC want to protect and why?” she wrote.

Karnataka’s election office later clarified that the local officer in charge of voter rolls in Aland received 6,018 applications in December 2022 through various government apps. Due to the unusually high number of requests, a detailed verification was conducted in 2023.

Supporting Gandhi’s allegations, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar claimed the EC had failed to cooperate with the CID probe.

“Some people attempted to delete voters’ names by giving wrong telephone numbers. They wanted to delete a very large number of votes. Ultimately, we detected it,” Shivakumar said.

He added that the CID was seeking details about the phone numbers used for the deletions. “The CID requested this from the ECI, but it is not cooperating,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Thursday said all available information with the ECI, regarding alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in the state’s Aland constituency in the run up to 2023 Assembly polls, has already been shared with Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi.

Clarifying that the FIR in connection with the case was lodged by the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO), who function under the authority of ECI, it also said, CEO, Karnataka has been providing all assistance or information or documents to the investigating agency.