'BLOCKED, BLOCKED, BLOCKED': Rahul Gandhi reacts to Election Commission's fact check over 'voter chori'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of shielding “vote chors” and those who have “destroyed democracy.”
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday intensified his attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of blocking a probe into alleged voter deletions in Karnataka’s Aland constituency.
“After our Aland candidate exposed the fraud, the local EC official filed an FIR, but the CID investigation has been - BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka CID has written 18 letters in 18 months requesting all incriminating evidence - BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka EC has sent multiple requests to ECI to comply with the investigation - BLOCKED by CEC,” the Congress leader wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
He further alleged that if the “vote theft” had not been detected and 6,018 votes deleted, their candidate could have lost the election.
“Details of destination IP, device ports, and OTP trails have been withheld - BLOCKED by CEC. If this vote theft had not been caught and the 6,018 votes had been deleted, our candidate could have lost the election. CEC Gyanesh Kumar - stop giving excuses. Release the evidence to the Karnataka CID. NOW,” he added.
Gandhi’s remarks came after the Election Commission swiftly rebutted his charges through a post tagged #ECIFactCheck, calling his claims “incorrect and baseless.”
At a press conference in New Delhi earlier on Thursday, the Congress leader had accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of shielding “vote chors” and those who have “destroyed democracy.” He cited data from Aland constituency to allege that the names of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.
In Aland, someone tried to delete 6,018 votes and got caught by coincidence, he said.
The ECI, through its fact-check post, said, “No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi. In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in 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.”
Gandhi had also claimed that the Karnataka CID has sent 18 letters in 18 months to the ECI, seeking details such as the destination IP address and OTP trails. “They are not giving it because it will lead us to where this operation is being conducted,” he alleged.
Later in the day, the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that all available information with the ECI regarding alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections had already been shared with the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi.
It said that the FIR in the case was lodged by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who function under the authority of the ECI, and that the CEO has been providing all assistance, information, and documents sought by the investigating agency.
“Based on the instructions given by ECI, the CEO, Karnataka, has handed over to the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi district, on 06.09.2023, all the available information with ECI for completing the investigation,” a note from the CEO’s office said.
