NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting “vote chors” and individuals undermining Indian democracy. Speaking at a press conference at the Congress’ Indira Bhawan headquarters, Gandhi cited data from a Karnataka Assembly constituency, claiming that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.
He urged the Election Commission to halt this practice and provide, within a week, information requested by the Karnataka CID as part of its investigation into voter deletions.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said his revelations mark another step in exposing how elections are being manipulated, though he clarified that these were not the “hydrogen bomb” of disclosures he had promised, which he said would come soon.
Gandhi highlighted alleged attempts to delete votes in Karnataka’s Aland constituency in 2023 and claimed fraudulent additions of voters in Maharashtra’s Rajura constituency using automated software.
“I am making a serious claim about Gyanesh Kumar. The CEC is protecting vote chors and those who have destroyed Indian democracy,” he asserted. He alleged that millions of voters across India were being targeted for deletion.
Gandhi insisted that his statements are backed by evidence. In Aland, he said, 6,018 votes were attempted to be deleted, but the effort was uncovered by chance when a booth-level officer noticed her uncle’s vote had vanished. Investigations revealed that the deletions were carried out using software, with 6,018 applications filed impersonating voters and originating from mobile numbers outside Karnataka. Gandhi brought forward a voter and the person whose identity had been misused; both denied any knowledge of the deletion attempts.
He claimed that despite ongoing investigations, the Karnataka CID’s repeated requests to the Election Commission—18 letters in 18 months seeking details such as IP addresses and OTP trails—have gone unanswered. “EC knows who is doing this. They are doing this to your future. By withholding this information, they are defending the murderers of democracy,” Gandhi said.
Earlier, at the conclusion of his Voter Adhikar Yatra on September 1, Gandhi had promised a “hydrogen bomb” of revelations on vote manipulation, warning that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would face public scrutiny once it was released. Last month, he alleged that over one lakh votes were “stolen” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, calling it an “atom bomb” on Indian democracy.
