Rahul Gandhi Accuses Election Commission Of Shielding Centralised Voter Deletions

Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday, alleged that voter deletions have been carried out on a large scale in a centralised and automated manner, and accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of withholding key technical information sought by investigators in Karnataka.

Speaking at a special press conference at Indira Bhawan Auditorium in New Delhi, Gandhi said that minorities, Dalits, OBCs and opposition voters were being systematically targeted and described the operation as a “centralised criminal set-up to steal elections.”

Aland Constituency Case

Gandhi cited the Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka as a prime example. He said that 6,018 voter deletion applications were filed by impersonators, submitted automatically using software and mobile numbers from outside the state. According to him, the incident was discovered when a booth-level officer noticed her uncle’s vote had been deleted. The neighbour shown as responsible told her he had no knowledge of it, suggesting that the process was hijacked. Gandhi added that while 6,018 deletions were caught, the scale could be larger.

He claimed that “a software is picking up the first name in the booth and using it to delete voters,” and that deletions were carried out in a “call centre-level operation” using numbers registered in Delhi, Gurugram or Haryana.

The Karnataka CID has been investigating the matter since an FIR was filed in February 2023. Gandhi said the agency has written 18 times in 18 months to the ECI, seeking destination IP addresses, device ports, OTP trails, and ownership details of mobile numbers used in the deletions. Gandhi alleged that the Commission has not cooperated because it knows where the trail will lead.

Election Commission of India's Reaction

The Election Commission of India rejected Gandhi's claims as "incorrect and baseless."

Through a post on X, the EC said: "Allegations made by Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi are incorrect and baseless. No Deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Rahul Gandhi." The statement also mentioned that no deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person.

The Election Commission said that in 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for the deletion of electors in the Aland Assembly Constituency and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter. "As per records, Aland Assembly Constituency was won by Subhadh Guttedar (BJP) in 2018 and BR Patil (INC) in 2023," it said.

Other States And Constituencies

Gandhi also referred to the Rajura constituency, where 6,850 additions and deletions were recorded, with individuals unaware that their names were used. He said similar operations had taken place in Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “protecting the people who are destroying democracy” and said the ECI was “defending the murderers of democracy.” He demanded that the Commission release the requested data on phone numbers and OTP trails within a week, warning that otherwise it would be clear the ECI was shielding those behind the deletions.

He said, “I want every youngster to know that this is the future — your jobs, your future, your Constitution. Gyanesh Kumar is not telling the Karnataka CID who is behind this.”

Not The “hydrogen bomb”

Gandhi said this disclosure was not the “hydrogen bomb” of revelations he had earlier promised. He described the current evidence as “100 per cent bullet-proof” and said it showed deletions carried out in a centralised manner. He added that last time he had presented examples of voter additions, and this time he was showing deletions.

He said his team would take “two to three months” to complete further presentations and added, “I told my team that I won’t go up on stage unless we have 100 per cent proof.”

Gandhi said his role was to participate in democracy, not to protect it, and that other institutions should take responsibility. “Whatever I am doing here is not my work. My work is to participate in the democratic system, not to protect it. It is the institutions that should do it,” he said.

The press conference concluded with the national anthem.