New Delhi, Sep 18: Stepping up his attack on the Election Commission of India, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged large-scale deletion of voters from Congress strongholds in Karnataka during the 2023 Assembly elections. He claimed the deletions were carried out using fake logins, phone numbers from outside the state, and software-based operations.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of shielding those behind the alleged irregularities. “The Karnataka CID has sent 18 letters to the Election Commission in 18 months seeking information such as destination IPs and OTP trails. They are not giving it because this will lead us to where the operation is being done from. This is absolute solid proof that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting the people who are doing this,” Gandhi said.
Brandishing a copy of the Constitution, he warned youngsters that the alleged manipulation was a direct attack on democracy. “When they are not giving this information, they are defending the murderers of our democracy. Your jobs, your future, your aspirations all come from this,” he said.
Gandhi also produced individuals whose phone numbers, he alleged, had been used for voter deletions. The people, however, said they were unaware of such activity. According to him, while some constituencies saw mass deletions, others witnessed additions — all allegedly through external numbers and unsuspecting citizens’ details.
“The basic idea is the same — phones from outside, people who are supposed to have added voters don’t know they have added voters, people who have deleted voters don’t know they have deleted voters,” he remarked.
The allegations are expected to intensify the confrontation between the Congress and the Election Commission ahead of upcoming state elections.
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