NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India on Thursday sharply rebutted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi‘s allegation of massive deletion of votes in Karnataka’s Aland, calling it “incorrect and baseless.”The poll body dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s claim that over six thousand votes have been deleted in the Aland Assembly constituency segment in Karnataka. EC made clear that “no deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as conceived by Rahul Gandhi.” EC added that no deletion can take place “without giving an opportunity of being heard, to the affected person.” On Rahul Gandhi’s claim of the deletion of votes in Aland, EC raised that in 2013, unsuccessful attempts were made, but an FIR was filed to investigate the matter. It further cited records that mention “Aland AC was won by BJP’s Subhash Guttedar in 2018 and Congress’s B R Patil in 2023.”

Gyanesh Kumar protecting people who destroyed democracy: Rahul

The Congress leader, in a press conference on Thursday, accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting “vote chors” and people who have destroyed democracy. Displaying data of Aland on a big screen during the press conference, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.“I am going to show the youth, the people, proof that is black and white, absolutely clear that Chief Election Commissioner of India is protecting people who have destroyed Indian democracy. I will also show you the methods by which votes are added, deleted and show you how it is done,” Rahul Gandhi said.He alleged that a group of people is using a centralised method through software and impersonating real voters, and deleting their names from the voter lists. “In election after election, someone, some group of people, have been systematically targeting voters for deletions across India. Different communities, mainly those who are voting for the opposition, Dalits, OBCs, adivasis, and minorities, are specifically targeted who vote for the Opposition. We had heard this many times, and now we found 100 per cent proof of it. I am not going to say anything on this stage that is not backed up by 100 per cent proof. I am somebody who loves my country, the Constitution, and the democratic process, and I am protecting that process. I am not going to be based on 100 per cent proof that you can determine,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of vote chori in Karnataka’s Aland

“In Aland, Karnataka, 6018 votes, somebody tried to delete these votes. We don’t know the total number of votes deleted in the 2023 elections, but somebody got caught. It was caught, by most crimes, by coincidence. What happened was that the Booth Level officer noticed that her uncle’s vote had been deleted. When she checked, she saw that her neighbour had deleted the vote,” Gandhi said during the press conference. “When she asked the neighbour, he said that he is not aware of doing such a thing. So neither the neighbour nor the person whose vote was deleted knew. Some other force hijacked the process and deleted the vote. As luck would have it, it got caught,” he added.