In a recent PowerPoint presentation, Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi again attacked the Election Commission of India (ECI). This time, he alleged that the poll body was protecting the government in "vote chori" (vote theft). He said that the mass deletion of voters from Congress' strongholds in Karnataka state during the 2023 Assembly elections.
While presenting the PowerPoint, Gandhi alleged that the names of Congress voters were deleted using fake logins and phone numbers from outside the state. He claimed that the deletion task was done with the help of software in a centralised manner, not by an individual.
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The Election Commission of India (ECI) filed an FIR against Rahul Gandhi regarding his claims, sources from the poll body aware of this matter told NDTV. The central election body termed the allegations "incorrect" and "baseless". Quoting a source, NDTV reported that no deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as Rahul Gadha misconceived.
Rahul Gandhi PPT on Vote Chori
ECI Denies Allegations
"No deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person," a source said. Sources in the poll body told NDTV that several attempts were made in 2003 to delete voters from Aland Assembly Constituency and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter. It also pointed out that the Aland Assembly seat was won by the BJP's Subhadh Guttedar in 2018 and the Congress's BR Patil in 2023.
Gandhi said, "In election after election, a group of people has been systematically targeting millions of voters for deletion across India, different communities, mainly communities that are voting for the Opposition. We have found 100 per cent proof of this. I love my country, I love the Constitution, I love the democratic process and I am protecting that process. I am not going to say anything here that is not going to be based on 100 per cent proof that you can determine. The judgment is yours."
Deletion of 6,018 Votes
Gandhi alleged that in Aland, Karnataka, someone tried to delete 6,018 votes, but was caught due to a coincidence. "The booth-level officer noticed that her uncle's vote was deleted, and she found her neighbour had deleted it. So, she asked the neighbour and he said he did not know about it. Neither the person who deleted the vote knew, nor the person whose vote was deleted knew. And as luck would have it, got caught," he said.
"In Alund, 6,018 applications were filed impersonating voters. The people who filed these applications actually never filed them," he alleged.
"Karnataka CID by September 25 has written 18 reminder letters. While this is going on, the CEC of Karnataka writes to the Election Commission in Delhi and says there is a matter. But he receives no answer," Gandhi claimed. The CID has asked the destination IP of the device from where voter deletion forms were filled and OTP trials.