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The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday, September 18, rejected Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of mass voter deletions in Karnataka’s Aland Assembly constituency as ‘baseless and incorrect’. It also questioned Rahul Gandhi and Congress’ understanding of the electoral process, and said that the latter’s claims of vote deletion by any ‘online tool’ were a mere misconception.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi, in a special press conference, alleged mass vote deletions, particularly in Congress strongholds, through fake logins and using phone numbers from outside the state. Alleging a ‘systematised and organised’ style of voter deletions, he said that 6,018 votes were deleted in Karnataka’s Aland constituency.
The ECI, in a quick rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi's charge of vote deletions, said that no deletion of votes could be done by any member of the public, and it couldn’t be done online, as "misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi".
“No deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person,” said ECI. The poll panel also informed that in 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for the deletion of electors in the Aland Assembly constituency, and an FIR was also filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter.
The Aland constituency in Karnataka, which Rahul Gandhi purportedly described as a Congress stronghold, was won by Subhadh Guttedar (BJP) in 2018 and B.R. Patil (INC) in 2023. Gandhi’s fresh charges of vote deletions in Karnataka’s Aland constituency are set to heat the political space.
The poll panel is expected to formally dismiss his charges, while the BJP will dub the allegations as Congress’ another attempt to obfuscate the electoral atmosphere, ahead of the Bihar elections. Notably, Rahul Gandhi, in another special press conference a month ago, claimed that one lakh votes were added in Karnataka’s Mahadevpura constituency.