In a fresh and scathing attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Commission of engaging in serious electoral irregularities, particularly in relation to the addition and deletion of voter names from electoral rolls, and protecting ‘vote chor’.
Gandhi alleged that there was a deliberate and systematic effort to remove millions of voters’ names, thereby disenfranchising a significant section of the electorate across multiple constituencies. He made these claims during a special press briefing at the AICC Indira Bhawan in Delhi.
The charge of systematic voter deletion
Gandhi alleged that the deletion of voters’ names was not a sporadic or accidental occurrence but a planned, systematic attack on the electoral process. He specifically pointed to the systematic targeting of Congress supporters, whose names, he alleged, were deliberately removed from the voter rolls in certain constituencies.
The Congress leader cited multiple cases, most notably from Karnataka’s Aland constituency, where he claimed that Congress votes were being deleted ahead of elections.
In his press briefing, Gandhi elaborated on how these deletions were carried out, describing how a booth-level officer noticed that the names of several Congress supporters, including her uncle’s, had been removed from the rolls.
According to Gandhi, the officer discovered that the deletion had been carried out by external forces, who had hijacked the process. In a particularly striking example, Gandhi mentioned that around 6,018 votes were purportedly deleted through fraudulent applications, with mobile numbers registered from outside Karnataka.
Chief Election Commissioner protecting “Vote Chors”
During the press conference, Gandhi also took aim at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of deliberately shielding those responsible for these alleged malpractices. According to Gandhi, the ECI and Kumar were actively protecting what he referred to as “vote chors”, those involved in manipulating the electoral process and undermining democracy. He went so far as to state that Kumar’s actions were effectively enabling the “killing of democracy” in India.
Fraudulent vote additions
Gandhi didn’t limit his allegations to Karnataka alone. He also pointed to Maharashtra’s Rajura constituency, where he claimed that over 6,850 votes were fraudulently added using automated software. According to Gandhi, these additions were part of a broader pattern of manipulation, involving the systematic injection of fake voter identities into the rolls. He accused the ECI of failing to take adequate action to investigate or address these fraudulent additions.
Asserting that these were not isolated incidents, Gandhi emphasised the scale of the alleged fraud, and the apparent role of the Election Commission in enabling it. He demanded that the ECI take immediate action to investigate the matter and provide the information that was being withheld from state authorities.
He claimed that the Karnataka Police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) had made repeated requests for vital information, including IP addresses and OTP trails related to the fraudulent activities, but the Commission had yet to respond.
The ECI’s denial
In response to Gandhi’s allegations, the Election Commission of India issued a statement vehemently rejecting the claims. The Commission labelled the accusations as “incorrect and baseless,” asserting that no deletion of votes could be carried out online by any public member.
It further clarified that any removal of voter names from the rolls required due process, including providing the affected individuals an opportunity to be heard.
The Election Commission also referenced a specific incident in Aland, Karnataka, where attempts had been made to delete votes, and an FIR had been filed by the ECI to investigate the matter.
The Commission also stressed that similar investigations were already underway and that necessary actions would be taken against anyone found responsible for electoral malpractices.