Elder Congress leader Rahul Gandhi heightened his attack on the Election Commission of India, asserting today that a mass deletion of voters happened in Congress bastions in Karnataka in the 2023 Assembly polls.
He said that these voter IDs were deleted by way of fake logins and phone numbers from outside the state. As per him, this deletion was not done by individuals but centrally using software.
Sources in the Election Commission said the FIR in the case Rahul Gandhi is referring to was filed by the poll body itself. Sources in the Election Commission have termed Mr Gandhi's allegations "incorrect" and "baseless". "No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi. No deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person," a source said. "In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for the deletion of electors in Aland Assembly Constituency, and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter," the source added. It also pointed out that the Aland Assembly seat was won by the BJP's Subhadh Guttedar in 2018 and the Congress's BR Patil in 2023.
Mr Gandhi said, "In election after election, a group of people has been systematically targeting millions of voters for deletion across India, different communities, mainly communities that are voting for the Opposition. We have found 100 per cent proof of this. I love my country, I love the Constitution, I love the democratic process and I am protecting that process. I am not going to say anything here that is not going to be based on 100 per cent proof that you can determine. The judgment is yours."
Mr. Gandhi said, "The booth-level officer noticed that her uncle's vote was deleted, and she found her neighbour had deleted it. So, she asked the neighbour and he said he did not know about it. Neither the person who deleted the vote knew, nor the person whose vote was deleted knew. And as luck would have it, got caught."
Talking about Aland in Karnataka, he accused, "Someone attempted to remove 6,018 votes, but got caught by coincidence. The booth-level officer saw that her uncle's vote was removed, and she discovered her neighbour had removed it. So she questioned her neighbour and he replied he didn't know anything about it. Neither the vote remover knew, nor the vote removed individual knew. And luck had it, got caught."
"In Alund, 6,018 applications were filed impersonating voters. The people who filed these applications actually never filed them," he alleged.
Lambasting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the Lok Sabha Opposition Leader alleged that the Karnataka CID had written 18 letters in 18 months to the poll body seeking details, including the destination IPs of the equipment used to submit voter deletion forms and OTP trails. "They are not giving it because this will lead us to where the operation is being done from. This is absolute solid proof that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting the people who are doing this." he said, adding that the reportedly manipulations were widespread and costly.
Holding up a copy of the India Constitution, he said, "I want every single youngster to know that they are attacking this, and this is your future. When they are not giving this information, they are defending the murderers of our democracy. Your jobs, your future, your aspirations all come from this."
At the press conference, Mr. Gandhi presented a number of individuals whose phone numbers, he asserted, had been used to cancel voter IDs. But those individuals said that they knew nothing about it. He added, "But the basic idea is the same, phones from outside, people who are supposed to have added voters don't know they have added voters, people who have deleted voters don't know they have deleted voters."
"Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar needs to stop protecting the people who are destroying Indian democracy. EC has to release this data within a week. Otherwise, we will know for sure that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting people who are destroying and attacking the Constitution," he said.
