Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
“CEC Gyanesh Kumar needs to resign now. Election commission is overseeing a VoteChori Machine manned by VoteChors,” Moitra wrote on X hours after leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s news conference.
Rahul had accused Kumar of protecting “vote-chors.”
Presenting The Aland Files, a set of data from the constituency of Aland in Karnataka, Rahul said, “The chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is protecting those who are destroying the Constitution, murdering democracy in India.”
Rahul also said 6,018 voters were deleted in Aland through software and in a call centre.
The central poll body dismissed allegations made by the Congress MP as “incorrect and baseless” but acknowledged that there were “certain unsuccessful attempts” to delete electors in Aland in 2023.
The BJP has countered the charge saying Rahul was backing infiltrators.
In Bihar’s Rohtas, Union home minister Amit Shah, addressing BJP workers said, “They (Congress) spread a false narrative every time. Rahul Gandhi did a Yatra... The topic of his yatra was not vote theft. The topic was not good education, employment, electricity, roads... The topic of the tour was saving the infiltrators who have come from Bangladesh. Have any of you lost their votes?... This was Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra’... Should infiltrators have the right to vote or free rations? Should infiltrators get jobs, houses, treatment up to 5 lakh rupees?... Instead of our youth, this Rahul Baba and company are giving jobs to vote bank infiltrators. “
Shah urged BJP workers to go to every house and campaign that if INDIA bloc “government is formed even by mistake, then there will be only infiltrators in every district of Bihar.”
In a news conference, BJP MP Anurag Thakur said Rahuls’ frustration was increasing after having lost 90 elections.
“The Congress has lost approximately 90 elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. His frustration is increasing day-by-day. He has made politics of allegations his ornament. It has become a habit of Rahul Gandhi to make incorrect and baseless allegations. Seeking apology and being reprimanded by courts have become a routine of Rahul Gandhi.”
BJP MP Jagdambika Pal said “clouds that thunder don’t rain.”
"Rahul Gandhi called a conference to confuse the entire country by saying they would burst 'Hydrogen bombs' but when he held the conference, he said, today he will burst hydrogen bombs. This shows that the clouds that thunder don't rain. On one side, he talks about 'Mohabbat ki Dukaan' and on the other side, he talks about Hydrogen bombs..."
Earlier on Thursday, Gandhi said that the Karnataka CID had asked the Election Commission to provide destination IPs from where the forms were filled, the device destination port and the OTP trails for the voter deletion, but the poll body had withheld the information.
“I am telling Gyanesh Kumar you have taken an oath. CID (of Karnataka) is asking for proof, submit it within a week’s time,” he said.
“Because this will lead us to the people who are doing it. The chief election commissioner is protecting people who are doing this, the vote-chors. This is absolute, solid proof. I am making such direct accusations against Gyanesh Kumar,” he said.
This was the second news conference in which the Leader of Opposition targeted the Election Commission over alleged manipulation in electoral rolls.