Gandhi accuses CEC of protecting those involved in alleged vote theft during Karnataka elections.
Rahul Gandhi, a prominent Congress leader, has claimed that a centralised software program is being employed to systematically delete names from voter lists in Karnataka. He accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting individuals involved in what he termed “vote theft.” According to Gandhi, this deletion process specifically targeted polling booths where the Congress party had a strong presence.
Gandhi’s assertions were based on analyses conducted by the Congress regarding the Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka. He alleged that an unknown entity had utilized software to remove voters from the electoral rolls in a centralised manner. Although the exact number of voters removed in Aland remains unclear, he stated that 6,018 applications had been submitted impersonating other voters, emphasizing that these individuals had not filed such applications themselves.
During a press conference, Gandhi presented a video featuring a woman who claimed she had not applied to delete anyone’s name from the voter list, despite applications being submitted in her name. Another individual, who allegedly had his name used to submit twelve deletion applications within just fourteen minutes, also attended the press conference. He confirmed that he had not filed any such applications and was unaware of how his name was involved in this process.
Gandhi pointed out that the top ten booths in Aland with the highest number of deletions were strongholds of the Congress party. He noted that the names used for the deletion applications were those listed first in the voter list for those booths, suggesting an automated process facilitated by software. He referred to this as evidence of “vote chori,” or vote theft.
Additionally, Gandhi criticized Chief Election Commissioner Kumar for failing to respond to 18 reminder letters sent by the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) and the state’s election chief. These letters sought information such as Internet Protocol addresses and One Time Password trails to identify those who made the voter deletion requests. Gandhi alleged that Kumar’s inaction implied a protective stance towards those implicated in vote theft, asserting that there is “cent percent proof” of this protection.
In a demand for transparency, Gandhi insisted that the Election Commission release the phone numbers used to initiate the deletion processes within a week. The Election Commission, however, responded to Gandhi’s allegations by labeling them as “incorrect and baseless.” The commission stated that no voter deletion could be conducted online by any member of the public, as Gandhi had misconceived.
In its defense, the Election Commission mentioned that while there were unsuccessful attempts to delete electors in Aland in 2023, it had itself filed a first information report to investigate the matter. The Aland constituency was won by a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in 2018 and a Congress nominee in 2023, as per the commission’s statement.
Gandhi further clarified that his statements during the press conference were not the culmination of evidence on alleged voter fraud he had previously mentioned. He indicated that more substantial allegations would be made public in the future. Earlier, he had claimed that his party had uncovered numerous discrepancies in the electoral rolls of the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, including duplicate entries and invalid addresses, which he suggested indicated collusion between the Election Commission and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission has consistently rejected these claims as false and misleading.
