The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday dismissed allegations made by the Leader of Opposition as “incorrect and baseless” but acknowledged that there were “certain unsuccessful attempts” to delete electors in Aland in 2023.
The poll body emphasised that “no vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Rahul Gandhi,” and that no deletion can take place without giving the affected person an opportunity to be heard.
The response came after Rahul Gandhi held a news conference alleging that CEC Gyanesh Kumar is protecting “vote chors” and people who have destroyed democracy.
Presenting data from Karnataka’s Aland Assembly constituency, he said, “The chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is protecting those who are destroying the Constitution, murdering democracy in India.”
Rahul Gandhi claimed that the pattern of voter deletions indicated the use of phone numbers from outside Karnataka and a centralised system, likely a call centre, using software to target the first voters in each booth.
“This is not an individual’s handiwork. This was done at a call centre. This was done by using a software which picked the first voters in a booth and filed applications for deletion of voters. This was done in a centralised manner,” he said.
He alleged that Kumar was shielding those responsible: “Whoever are involved in this have large resources. Who is this someone? The answer is with the EC. When they do not give information they murder democracy.”
Rahul also cited an FIR filed in February 2023 and claimed that the Karnataka CID had sent 18 letters in 18 months seeking details from the Election Commission but had not received replies.
“I am telling Gyanesh Kumar you have taken an oath. CID is asking for proof, submit it within a week’s time. The chief election commissioner is protecting people who are doing this, the vote-chors. This is absolute, solid proof. I am making such direct accusation against Gyanesh Kumar,” he said.
Rahul claimed that a BLO in Aland first noticed the deletion of a family member’s name, which led to further investigation revealing that 6,018 voters were deleted, with the number possibly higher.
The EC has acknowledged that there were “certain unsuccessful attempts” to delete electors in Aland in 2023 and that an FIR had been filed to investigate the matter. It clarified that as per records, the Aland Assembly Constituency was won by Subhadh Guttedar (BJP) in 2018 and BR Patil (INC) in 2023.
Rahul Gandhi contrasted Aland with Maharashtra’s Rajura, where 6,850 voters were added.
“In Aland, there has been targeted deletion of voters in strong Congress booths. In other places voters are being added. This has happened in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
This was the second news conference where Rahul targeted the central poll panel over alleged manipulation in electoral rolls, having presented similar data last month to show irregularities in voter additions ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.