NEW DELHI (Sep 18) – Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of protecting what he called “vote thieves” following allegations of systematic voter deletions in Karnataka and other states.
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Gandhi said the Election Commission’s refusal to share key data with investigators showed a deliberate attempt to cover up voter fraud.
“I am going to make a serious claim about Gyanesh Kumar. I am not saying this lightly. The CEC is protecting vote chors (vote thieves) and the people who have destroyed Indian democracy,” said Gandhi, who also serves as the Leader of Opposition in India’s Parliament.
Gandhi cited data from Karnataka’s Aland constituency in 2023, claiming 6,018 voter names were deleted through impersonation using automated software. “The booth-level officer noticed her uncle’s vote had been deleted. She found that her neighbour’s name was used to request the deletion. It was later discovered that an external force hijacked the process,” he said.
He further alleged that millions of voters had been targeted for deletion across India and demanded that the Election Commission provide details such as IP addresses and OTP trails linked to deletion requests. “They are not giving this information because it will expose where this operation is being conducted,” Gandhi claimed.
The Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has reportedly sent 18 letters to the Election Commission over 18 months seeking this data but has not received a response.
Accusing the CEC of shielding those responsible, Gandhi warned young voters: “EC knows who is doing this. I want every youngster in India to know this. They are doing this to your future. When they are not giving this information, they are defending the murderers of democracy.”
Last month, Gandhi claimed that over 100,000 votes were “stolen” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency during India’s 2024 general elections, calling the alleged fraud an “atom bomb on our democracy.”
He also reiterated his earlier statement that the Congress party would soon release a “hydrogen bomb” of revelations on voter fraud, which he claimed would expose the full scale of electoral manipulation in India.