Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a sharp attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of protecting “vote chors” and those who have destroyed Indian democracy. Addressing a press conference at the Congress’ Indira Bhawan headquarters, Gandhi cited alleged large-scale voter deletions in Karnataka and fraudulent additions in Maharashtra as evidence of systematic electoral manipulation.
Calling his revelations a “milestone” in exposing how elections are being rigged, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said this was not the “hydrogen bomb” of disclosures he has promised, which would come later. He pointed to Karnataka’s Aland constituency, where he claimed 6,018 votes—mostly of Congress supporters—were targeted for deletion in 2023. “The booth-level officer discovered her uncle’s vote had been deleted. It turned out someone else had hijacked the process through software,” Gandhi alleged.
He further claimed that applications impersonating voters were filed automatically using mobile numbers from outside Karnataka. On stage, he presented a voter whose name was targeted for deletion and another person whose identity was used to file the deletion request—both denied involvement.
In Maharashtra’s Rajura constituency, Gandhi alleged votes were added fraudulently with the help of automated software. He claimed millions of voters across India were being systematically targeted. “I am the Leader of Opposition, I will not make claims without 100 percent proof,” he said.
Gandhi accused the Election Commission of stonewalling the Karnataka CID, which has sent 18 letters over 18 months seeking details such as destination IPs and OTP trails linked to the deletions. “They are not providing information because it will expose where this operation is being conducted,” he said, alleging that CEC Gyanesh Kumar is shielding those behind the conspiracy.
“Every youngster in India must know this—they are stealing your future. By withholding information, the EC is defending the murderers of democracy,” Gandhi charged.
He reminded reporters that at the conclusion of his Voter Adhikar Yatra on September 1, he had promised a “hydrogen bomb” of revelations, warning that after its release, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be able to show his face to the country. Last month, he had also claimed that over one lakh votes were “stolen” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, describing “vote chori” as an “atom bomb on our democracy.”
