Rahul Gandhi Alleges Mass Deletion of Voters in Congress Strongholds, ECI Calls Allegations “Incorrect and Baseless”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 18: Stepping up his offensive against the Election Commission of India and the Chief Election Commissioner, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged mass deletion of voters from Congress strongholds in Karnataka during the 2023 Assembly election, and claimed that the CEC was protecting those who were “destroying” Indian democracy.

In his second explosive press conference on his allegations of ‘vote chori’ (vote theft), the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha claimed that millions of voters across the country have been targeted for deletion of their names in a centrally coordinated scam – but stopped short of releasing what he earlier promised would be a “hydrogen bomb” of evidence.

These voter IDs, he alleged, were deleted using fake logins and phone numbers from outside the state. He also claimed that this alleged voter deletion was being executed not by individuals, but with the use of software and in a centralised manner.  Mr Gandhi claimed that 6018 votes were sought to be deleted in the Aland constituency of Karnataka, using centralised software and phones outside of Karnataka. He also claimed Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities were systematically targeted and were being disenfranchised.

A major Chennai-based newspaper had recently reported a Karnataka CID’s probe into a systematic attempt to remove names of 5,994 voters from electoral rolls by forging Form 7, in the Aland Assembly constituency in Kalaburagi district, ahead of the 2023 Assembly election. Last month, Mr Gandhi citing data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, had claimed that over one lakh votes were “stolen” through manipulation in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Karnataka, and asserted that “vote chori” was an “atom bomb on our democracy.”

The Election Commission, however, has termed Mr Gandhi’s allegations “incorrect” and “baseless”. “No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi. No deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person,” the poll body said.

“In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for the deletion of electors in Aland Assembly Constituency, and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter,” it added. 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.

Defending the Election Commission, the BJP MP Anurag Thakur in a scathing retort to Mr Gandhi’s allegations, said the Congress has lost 90 per cent polls it fought under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. “His frustration is increasing day by day. It has become a habit of Rahul Gandhi to make incorrect and baseless allegations. Being reprimanded by courts has become a routine for him,” he said.

Mr Gandhi said he was holding back bursting the promised “hydrogen bomb” for the time being as his team was still preparing to drop that bomb and that everything presented so far was “100 per cent bulletproof proof.” “Not going to say anything on this stage that is not backed up by 100 per cent proof,” Gandhi said while starting the press conference and concluded it by saying that the hydrogen bomb was coming. “Preparations are underway.”

Rahul Gandhi alleged that voter deletions were not random, but specifically target booths where Congress leads. In Aland constituency of Karnataka, he claimed there was an attempt to delete 6,018 votes, likely a fraction of the actual number. He cited the case of a woman named Godabai, whose name was allegedly used to create fake logins to delete 12 voters – without her knowledge.

Mr 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.”

Mr 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 Aland, 6,018 applications were filed impersonating voters. The people who filed these applications actually never filed them,” he alleged.

Targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said the Karnataka CID has sent 18 letters to the poll body in 18 months and sought information. The CID has sought information such as the destination IP of the device from where voter deletion forms were filled and OTP trails, he said. The most recent reminder was sent in September 2025, Rahul Gandhi claimed.

“They are not giving it because this will lead us to where the operation is being done from. This is absolute solid proof that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting the people who are doing this,” he said, adding that the alleged irregularities were being carried out on a big scale and using large resources.

Holding up a copy of the India Constitution, he said, “I want every single youngster to know that they are attacking this, and this is your future. When they are not giving this information, they are defending the murderers of our democracy. Your jobs, your future, your aspirations all come from this.”

During the press interaction, Mr Gandhi brought some people and said their numbers were used to delete voter IDs. The people, however, said they don’t know of this. He said some constituencies saw voter addition, while others saw deletion. “But the basic idea is the same, phones from outside, people who are supposed to have added voters don’t know they have added voters, people who have deleted voters don’t know they have deleted voters,” Mr Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi presented slides claiming to show fake logins and mobile numbers from outside Karnataka used in the deletion process. He cited a person named Suryakant, who allegedly deleted 12 voters in 14 minutes – and brought both him and one of the “deleted” voters, Babita Choudhari on stage. Another example: A man named Nagaraj allegedly filled two deletion forms in just 38 seconds at 4:07 am, which Rahul Gandhi called “humanly impossible”.

Rahul Gandhi alleged that a centralised software-based operation, possibly run out of a call centre, is behind the voter deletions. The same mobile number was allegedly used to file applications in multiple states. The system was built to manipulate both voter deletions and additions, he said.

Rahul Gandhi also claimed fake voter additions in Rajura Assembly of Maharashtra – including bizarre entries like: Voter name: ‘YUH UQJJW’ Address: ‘Sasti, Sasti.’ He said the same pattern was found in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

“Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar needs to stop protecting the people who are destroying Indian democracy. EC has to release this data within a week. Otherwise, we will know for sure that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting people who are destroying and attacking the Constitution,” he said.

In his August 7 press conference, Rahul Gandhi had accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP and had alleged of over one lakh bogus entries in the Mahadevapura constituency in Karnataka and cited data irregularities like fake names, invalid addresses, altered CCTV footage, and stonewalling by the EC.

Refuting the fresh claims of vote theft made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the BJP alleged that he was willing to create a situation similar to Nepal and Bangladesh in India. BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Thursday accused Rahul Gandhi of trying to weaken the democracy and mislead citizens.

Thakur also alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s repeated allegations against the Election Commission reflected Congress’ lack of faith in the Indian democracy. “They have made the politics of allegations their ornament. When the Election Commission asks them to verify the allegations they themselves have made, they turn their back and run away. When asked to file an affidavit, they back out. Making false and baseless allegations has become a habit of Rahul Gandhi,” the BJP leader said.

Thakur agreed that attempts to steal votes were indeed made, but contended that the poll panel had directed the filing of an FIR in the case. “The Election Commission has already provided the mobile number and IP address. After all this, what has the CID of Congress-ruled Karnataka done so far? According to the records, it was the Congress candidate from the Aland assembly constituency who had won. So, did Congress win by stealing votes?” Thakur asked.

The Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Election Commission of “stone-walling” critical information to track culprits engaged in “mass voter deletion” in Karnataka’s Aland assembly constituency. In a post on X, he said the Karnataka CID is probing the voter deletion case in Aland constituency and asked if the country can afford a democracy where the electoral system was being dismantled by the “vote chori machinery.”