Congress leader Rahul Gandhi intensified his attack on the Election Commission of India, alleging that voters in Congress strongholds were deliberately deleted during the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections. According to him, thousands of voter IDs were removed through fake logins and phone numbers originating from outside the state, and the entire exercise was coordinated via centralised software rather than individual manipulation.
Gandhi claimed that this was part of a larger systematic effort to target communities that traditionally support the Opposition across India. He said Congress had gathered what he called “100 percent proof” of the operation, and accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of shielding those responsible. At his press interaction, he displayed the Constitution, warning that the democratic future of India was at stake if such practices went unchecked.
The allegations were linked to the Aland constituency in Karnataka, where Gandhi alleged that 6,018 voter IDs were deleted. He narrated how the alleged fraud was uncovered when a booth-level officer realized her uncle’s name had been removed without consent. Gandhi added that many people whose phone numbers were used for deletions had no knowledge of it.
The Election Commission, however, dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s allegations as “baseless.” Officials clarified that voter deletions cannot be performed online by the general public and that any such action requires prior notice and a hearing for the affected voter. The Commission acknowledged that there were attempts to delete electors in the Aland constituency in 2023 but said the FIR in the case was filed by the ECI itself to investigate those failed attempts.
The Aland seat had been won by the BJP in 2018 but was regained by Congress in 2023, despite the alleged voter deletion attempt. The Karnataka CID has reportedly written 18 times to the Election Commission over 18 months, seeking crucial technical data such as IP logs and OTP trails related to the deletions. Gandhi alleged that the refusal to share this information indicated a cover-up.
The Congress leader urged youngsters to recognize the seriousness of the issue, claiming that voter manipulation threatens their jobs, opportunities, and democratic rights. He demanded that the Election Commission release the requested data within a week, otherwise it would prove complicity in undermining India’s electoral system.
