The Congress leader this time specifically targeted the Aland assembly constituency in Karnataka. <\/span><\/p>\nRahul\u2019s latest charge<\/h4>\n
Gandhi claimed that in the 2023 Karnataka elections, over 6,000 names<\/span>\u20146,018 to be precise\u2014were nearly deleted from the electoral rolls via impersonation and software<\/span>\u2011<\/span>driven manipulation. He alleged that fake applications were submitted using mobile numbers from outside Karnataka and that many of those whose names were deleted had no knowledge of the submissions. He described the deletion attempts as part of a \u201ccentralised operation” rather than isolated errors, asserting that booths where Congress was traditionally strong had been disproportionately targeted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe Congress leader also accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh\u00a0Kumar of shielding \u201cvote chors” (vote thieves) and \u201cthose who have destroyed democracy”, saying that requests made by the Karnataka CID over 18 months<\/span>\u2014to get information such as IP addresses and OTP trails\u2014had been ignored. Gandhi emphasised that he was speaking only from evidence, or at least what he described as \u201csolid proof,” while also demanding that the Election Commission release all relevant data within a week.<\/span><\/p>\nIncorrect and baseless: ECI<\/h4>\n
Shortly after, the Election Commission of India (ECI)\u00a0issued a rebuttal to Gandhi\u2019s claims, calling them \u201cincorrect and baseless”. The commission asserted that no deletion of any vote or elector can be done online by any member of the public, contrary to what Gandhi claimed. It also observed that no name can be removed without giving the affected person an opportunity to be heard, as required by law.<\/span><\/p>\nWhile acknowledging that in 2023 there had been \u201cunsuccessful attempts”\u00a0to delete electors in Aland, the poll panel said these were flagged, and even an FIR was filed by ECI authorities to investigate. The commission further pointed out that Aland was won in 2018 by BJP candidate Subhadh Guttedar\u00a0and in 2023 by Congress candidate BR Patil, which, they implied, undermines the claim that manipulation altered the outcome.<\/span><\/p>\nRahul alleges evasion by poll body<\/h4>\n
Rahul Gandhi, however, did not accept the ECI\u2019s rebuttal as sufficient. In his follow<\/span>\u2011<\/span>up on that same day, he sharply reacted to what he called the poll body\u2019s \u201cunsigned, evasive notes”. He insisted that a constitutional body like the ECI should respond in proper, signed responses rather than through press statements or via intermediaries. He reiterated his demand that the ECI publish consolidated, machine<\/span>\u2011<\/span>readable\u00a0voter rolls for all recent elections (both Lok Sabha and state assembly), release post<\/span>\u2011<\/span>5 pm CCTV footage from polling booths, and share all digital and forensic data, including the IP addresses and OTP trails, that the Karnataka CID had been requesting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n