Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday claimed that Congress supporters’ votes were being systematically deleted and that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was protecting those who were involved in this vote theft. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Indira Bhawan here, the Congress MP said the CEC was “protecting vote chors” and that he had full knowledge of how the fraud was taking place.
While levelling the allegations, the Congress leader made a startling revelation that his party was “getting help” from people within the Election Commission in uncovering the alleged vote fraud happening across the country.
“We have started getting help from inside the Election Commission. I am making it clear that we are now getting information from inside the Election Commission. This was not happening before, but now we are getting information from inside the Election Commission, and this is not going to stop. India’s people will not accept this. Once the youth comes to know that ‘vote chori’ is happening, then their power will come,” Gandhi claimed.
According to him, at least 6,000 votes were deleted in the Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka. He had earlier, in a separate press conference, alleged vote fraud in the Mahadevpura Assembly segment in the same state.
“In election after election, someone, some group of people, has been systematically targeting voters for deletions across India. Different communities, mainly those who are voting for the opposition, Dalits, OBCs, adivasis, and minorities, are specifically targeted who vote for the Opposition. We had heard this many times, and now we found 100 per cent proof of it. I am not going to say anything on this stage that is not backed up by 100 per cent proof. I am somebody who loves my country, Constitution, and the democratic process and I am protecting that process,” he added.
Gandhi said the vote fraud in the Aland constituency was carried out by unknown people who used software and impersonated real voters.
“In Aland, Karnataka, 6,018 votes, somebody tried to delete these votes. We don’t know the total number of votes deleted in the 2023 elections, but somebody got caught. It was caught, by most crimes, by coincidence. What happened was that the Booth Level Officer noticed that her uncle’s vote had been deleted,” he alleged.
In response to Gandhi’s allegations levelled today, the ECI responded and termed the claims baseless.