The Election Commission of India (ECI) has labeled the accusations levied by Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyandesh Kumar as baseless and erroneous.
During a press conference held at the Indira Bhavan Auditorium in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi claimed that there had been large-scale 'vote theft' in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He specifically mentioned the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka and Rajura Assembly constituency in Maharashtra, claiming there was significant tampering with thousands of votes.
Responding to these allegations, the Election Commission issued a statement outright denying Rahul Gandhi's claims, asserting that all accusations against CEC Gyandesh Kumar are baseless and factually incorrect.
Votes Cannot Be Deleted Online: EC
In an official statement, the Commission said, 'The allegations made by Rahul Gandhi are false and unfounded. No vote can be deleted online. The general public cannot do this, contrary to what Rahul Gandhi understands.'
FIR Registered in 2023
The EC also stated that before votes are removed, the affected individual is given full opportunity to present their case. In 2023, there were some botched attempts to delete votes in the Aland Assembly area, and the Election Commission itself registered an FIR in this case.
According to the Commission's records, the Aland seat was won by the BJP's Subhash Guttedar in 2018 and by the Congress's B.R. Patil in 2023.
What Are Rahul's Allegations?
In his special press conference, Rahul Gandhi mentioned Karnataka's Aland constituency, claiming that efforts were made to remove 6,018 votes. We do not know the total number of votes removed in the 2023 election, but this figure was far greater than 6,018.
He remarked that the incident came to light when a booth-level officer discovered that his uncle's vote had been removed. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the vote was removed in the name of a neighbor. When asked, the neighbor confirmed he hadn't removed the vote. Neither the person who removed it nor the one whose vote was removed had any information. In reality, an external force had hacked the system and removed these votes.
Added Votes in Rajura: Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi further stated, 'In Rajura, Maharashtra, 6,850 voters were illegally added. While in Aland, Karnataka we found cases of vote removal, we found evidence of vote addition in Rajura. However, the core issue remains the same. This is happening through a single system. It's not limited to Karnataka or Maharashtra, but also occurring in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and other states. We have solid evidence of this.'
