GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 18th Sept: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that voters aligned with Congress are being deliberately removed from electoral rolls in Karnataka.
Addressing a press conference in the capital, Gandhi directly named Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of protecting individuals responsible for what he termed “vote theft.”
“The Chief Election Commissioner of India is protecting the people who have destroyed Indian democracy,” Gandhi declared.
“Not the H-Bomb, But It’s Coming”
Rahul Gandhi, who has been building momentum around his “Vote Chori” campaign, said that while Thursday’s revelations were significant, a much bigger expose was on the way.
“First of all, this is not the H-bomb. The H-bomb is coming. This is another milestone in setting up and demonstrating to the youth of this country how elections are being rigged,” Gandhi said.
Aland Case: 6,018 Votes Deleted
Citing a specific example, Gandhi pointed to irregularities in the Aland constituency of Karnataka, where he alleged that 6,018 votes were deleted in the 2023 assembly elections.
“A booth-level officer found that her uncle’s vote had been deleted. When she traced it, she discovered her neighbor’s details were misused to file the deletion. Neither the person whose vote was deleted nor the person in whose name it was filed knew about it. Some other force hijacked the process,” Gandhi explained.
He further alleged that applications for deletion were filed impersonating genuine voters, using software-generated submissions and mobile numbers from outside Karnataka, targeting Congress-supporting communities.
“I Won’t Speak Without Proof”
Seeking to position himself as a defender of democratic integrity, Gandhi stressed that all his claims were evidence-backed.
“I am not going to say anything on this stage that is not backed up by 100 per cent truth. I love my country, I love my Constitution, I love the democratic process, and I am protecting that process,” he asserted.
According to Gandhi, the Aland case is just one example of a wider, systematic attempt to influence elections by tampering with voter rolls.
Political Stakes and Fallout
The fresh allegations come amid rising tensions between the ruling BJP and the opposition-led INDIA bloc, with voter fraud and electoral transparency emerging as flashpoints ahead of upcoming state polls.
While the Election Commission has previously dismissed such accusations as “false and misleading,” Gandhi’s renewed offensive puts additional pressure on the institution at a sensitive political moment.
For Congress, the focus on alleged irregularities is part of a larger effort to rally public sentiment around safeguarding democracy. For the BJP, however, the charges are likely to be seen as another attempt to delegitimize its electoral successes.
As Gandhi promised a forthcoming “H-bomb” reveal, the political battle over electoral rolls is set to intensify. Whether these allegations resonate with voters or spark institutional reforms remains to be seen, but the opposition leader has clearly raised the stakes in the debate over India’s democratic credibility.
