The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday strongly rebutted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s accusations that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar was shielding those responsible for voter deletion scams.
In a statement, EC sources said,
“Allegations made by Shri Rahul Gandhi are incorrect and baseless. No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi.”
The poll body emphasized that no voter can be removed from the rolls without following due process, which includes notifying the concerned individual and giving them a chance to be heard.
EC on Karnataka’s Aland Constituency
Responding to Gandhi’s specific claim about Karnataka’s Aland constituency, EC admitted that attempts to fraudulently delete voters were made in 2023, but asserted that they were unsuccessful.
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An FIR was filed by the Election Commission itself to ensure a proper investigation.
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EC highlighted that elections in Aland had been fair, citing BJP’s Subhadh Guttedar’s win in 2018 and Congress’ BR Patil’s win in 2023 as proof of free outcomes.
Rahul Gandhi’s Charge
Earlier in the day, Gandhi had accused CEC Gyanesh Kumar of protecting “vote chors” (vote thieves) and claimed that voter deletions were being systematically carried out across India using automated software.
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He cited examples from Karnataka’s Aland and Maharashtra’s Rajura constituencies.
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Gandhi alleged that Karnataka CID had written to the EC 18 times in the past 18 months seeking technical details, but got no response.
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Promising to reveal a “hydrogen bomb” of evidence soon, Gandhi said,
“EC knows who is doing this. They are defending the murderers of democracy.”
