'Incorrect and baseless', says EC on Rahul Gandhi’s claims on mass deletion of votes in Karnataka

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of mass deletion of voters from Congress strongholds in Karnataka during the 2023 Assembly elections. Gandhi had claimed that a software was used in a centralised manner to remove voters’ names. The EC swiftly rejected the charge, calling it “incorrect and baseless.”

The poll body asserted that no deletion can take place without giving the affected person an opportunity to be heard.

“Allegations made by Rahul Gandhi are incorrect and baseless. No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Gandhi,” the EC stated.

According to a PTI report, Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting 'vote chors' and those who have 'destroyed democracy.' He also cited data from a Karnataka Assembly constituency to claim that Congress supporters’ votes were being systematically deleted ahead of the elections.

The EC clarified that in 2023, 'certain unsuccessful attempts' were made to delete electors in the Aland Assembly constituency, but an FIR was filed by the EC itself to investigate the matter.

“As per records, Aland Assembly constituency was won by Subhash Guttedar (BJP) in 2018 and BR Patil (INC) in 2023,” the commission noted.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Rahul Gandhi demanded that the EC provide information sought by the Karnataka CID in its investigation into voter deletions within a week. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha described his revelations as “another milestone in demonstrating to the youth of this country how elections are being rigged.”

He also clarified that these were not the “hydrogen bomb” revelations he had promised earlier, adding that those would be made public soon.