The deletion files: Rahul Gandhi escalates 'vote chori' war against EC, BJP - top quotes

NEW DELHI: Congress MP and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi , on Thursday may not have dropped the hydrogen bomb, but surely escalated his war against Election Commission 's chief Gyanesh Kumar over ' vote chori .'

During a press conference, the Congress MP unleashed allegations over voter theft in Karnataka's Aland, claiming that over six thousand deletion applications were filed by impersonators. Rahul alleged that the deletion of voters was done in a centralised manner using software targeting Congress. He also attacked the CEC Kumar, saying that he is 'protecting' people who have 'destroyed' Indian democracy.

"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.

Top allegations by Rahul Gandhi
6 thousand votes deleted in Aland Assembly constituency

• 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, 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.

Votes deleted fraudulently by unknown people

• In Aland, Karnataka, 6018 votes, somebody tried to delete these votes. We don't know the total number of votes deleted in 2023 elections, but somebody got caught. It was caught, by most crimes, by a 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.
• When she asked the neighbour, he said that he was 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.

Filing done using software, mobile numbers outside Karnataka

• In Aland, 6 thousand applications were filed impersonating voters, the people who filed these applications never filed them.
• The filing was done using software, mobile numbers outside Karnataka were used to delete numbers in Aland and it was done targeting Congress voters.

Rahul has earlier targeted the EC, accusing it of colluding with the BJP to "steal elections."

The Congress leader, on August 7, alleged voter fraud in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, claiming a party review found over 1 lakh bogus entries in the electoral rolls, including tens of thousands with fake addresses and bulk registrations.

Rahul alleged, citing the study, that the BJP’s 32,707-vote win in Bangalore Central was aided by 1,00,250 bogus votes. He said these fell into five categories: 11,965 duplicate entries, 40,009 with fake or invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters at common addresses, 4,132 with invalid photos, and 33,692 cases of Form 6 misuse for first-time voters.