NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday intensified his confrontation with the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of shielding “vote chors” and blocking investigations into alleged large-scale voter deletions. At a press conference in the capital, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha presented what he described as “100% proof” of voter manipulation in Karnataka’s Aland assembly constituency. The allegation has triggered a political storm, drawing sharp rebuttals from the BJP and the poll body itself.
What Rahul Gandhi said
At his press briefing, Rahul Gandhi claimed that a systematic effort was underway to delete opposition voters across India. He alleged that impersonators used a centralised software system to file deletion applications in bulk. Displaying data from Karnataka’s Aland constituency, he said that over 6,018 votes were targeted in 2023.
“In Aland, Karnataka, 6,018 votes, somebody tried to delete these votes. We do not know the total number of votes deleted in the 2023 elections, but somebody got caught. It was caught, like most crimes, by coincidence,” he said.
Also read | 'Mobiles, software used': Rahul Gandhi explains how Karnataka's Aland saw massive voter deletions; CEC rejects claim
Rahul explained that the alleged fraud came to light when a Booth Level Officer (BLO) noticed her uncle’s name missing from the rolls. Upon inquiry, she found that her neighbour’s phone number had been used to file the deletion. The neighbour, however, denied any involvement. “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,” he said.
The Congress leader further alleged that mobile numbers from outside Karnataka were used to impersonate voters in Aland. “The filing was done using software, mobile numbers outside Karnataka were used to delete numbers in Aland and it was done targeting Congress voters,” he charged.
Rahul added that the targeted deletions primarily affected Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, minorities, and other communities traditionally supporting opposition parties. “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,” he said.
He framed the issue as a direct threat to India’s 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 declared.
The leader of opposition reiterated that his claims were backed by evidence. “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.”
This was not Rahul Gandhi’s first such allegation. On August 7, he had accused the BJP of rigging voter rolls in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency. Citing a party review, he claimed over one lakh bogus entries were detected, including tens of thousands with fake addresses and duplicate registrations. According to him, BJP’s 32,707-vote win in Bangalore Central was aided by “1,00,250 bogus votes” that 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 misuse of Form 6 for first-time voters.
BJP’s response: What Amit Shah & Anurag Thakur said
Rahul Gandhi’s allegations sparked immediate counter-attacks from BJP leaders, who dismissed his press conference as theatrics.
Union home minister Amit Shah , while addressing BJP workers in Bihar’s Rohtas district, accused Rahul of spreading lies. “They (Congress) spread a false narrative every time. Rahul Gandhi did a Yatra… The topic of his yatra was not vote theft . The topic was not good education, employment, electricity, roads… The topic of the tour was saving the infiltrators who have come from Bangladesh. Have any of you lost their votes? This was Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra ’,” Shah said.
Also read | 'Spreading false narrative': Amit Shah slams Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ charge; terms Congress leader's rally as 'Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra'
He added that the Congress wanted infiltrators to enjoy the same rights as citizens. “Should infiltrators have the right to vote or free rations? Should infiltrators get jobs, houses, treatment up to 5 lakh rupees? Instead of our youth, this Rahul Baba and company are giving jobs to vote bank infiltrators,” he charged.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur went a step further, suggesting that if there was “vote chori” in Aland, then Congress itself had benefitted. “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.
He mocked Rahul Gandhi for “dropping a hydrogen bomb on himself.” “Rahul Gandhi himself admitted in his press conference that he is not here to save democracy. If not to save it, then is his goal to destroy it? By taking help from toolkits, he constantly questions and undermines our constitutional institutions,” Thakur said.
Thakur also attributed Rahul’s accusations to his “frustration” after multiple defeats. “The Congress has lost approximately 90 elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. His frustration is increasing day by day. He has made politics of allegations his ornament. It has become a habit of Rahul Gandhi to make incorrect and baseless allegations. Seeking apology and being reprimanded by courts have become a routine of Rahul Gandhi,” Thakur said.
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya echoed the attack, highlighting that Congress’s own candidate B.R. Patil had won Aland in 2023. “Rahul Gandhi alleges deletion of votes in Karnataka’s Aland, in the run up to 2023 Assembly election. Fun fact: Aland AC was won by Subhash Guttedar of the BJP in 2018 and B.R. Patil (INC) in 2023. So, Congress candidate is the beneficiary of so called ‘ Vote Chori ’? Well done!” Malviya wrote.
Read | 'Did Congress win in Aland by vote chori?' BJP says Rahul 'dropped H-bomb on self'; calls presser 'phuljhari'
What Election Commission said
The Election Commission strongly rebutted Rahul Gandhi’s claims, calling them “incorrect and baseless.”
In a formal statement, the poll body clarified, “No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as conceived by Rahul Gandhi. No deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person.”
Read | 'No deletion can be done online': EC dismisses Rahul Gandhi's Aland vote-chori charge; calls it 'baseless'
The EC acknowledged that in 2023, there had been “certain unsuccessful attempts” to delete electors in Aland. It said an FIR had been filed by the Commission itself to probe the matter. “In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in Aland AC and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter,” it said.
The Commission also pointed out the electoral record of Aland, noting that BJP’s Subhash Guttedar won in 2018, while Congress’s B.R. Patil won in 2023. The EC suggested that Rahul’s claim of mass deletions did not align with the eventual outcome of the polls.
Rahul’s rebuttal to ECI’s ‘fact-check’
Hours after the Election Commission’s clarification, Rahul Gandhi struck back, accusing CEC Gyanesh Kumar of blocking investigations. He alleged that despite multiple requests from Karnataka’s CID, crucial evidence was being withheld.
“After our Aland candidate exposed the fraud, the local EC official filed an FIR, but the CID investigation has been BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka CID has written 18 letters in 18 months requesting all incriminating evidence—BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka EC has sent multiple requests to ECI to comply with the investigation—BLOCKED by CEC. Details of destination IP, device ports, and OTP trails have been withheld—BLOCKED by CEC,” Rahul wrote on X.
He warned that Congress could have lost the Aland seat had the alleged fraud not been detected. “If this vote theft had not been caught and the 6,018 votes had been deleted, our candidate could have lost the election,” he said.
Read | 'Stop giving excuses': Rahul's rebuttal to ECI's 'fact-check'; targets CEC Gyanesh Kumar
Directly addressing Gyanesh Kumar, Rahul added, “CEC Gyanesh Kumar—stop giving excuses. Release the evidence to the Karnataka CID. NOW.”
The Election Commission, however, reiterated its stance, maintaining that Rahul’s interpretation was flawed. It insisted that deletions could not occur online and only after due process, and reminded that an FIR was already lodged to probe the incident.
The latest clash adds another chapter to Rahul Gandhi’s prolonged standoff with the Election Commission. While Congress insists that the BJP is using institutional mechanisms to tilt the playing field, the ruling party maintains that Rahul’s claims are excuses for his electoral setbacks.
What Karnataka election Commission said
The Karnataka Election Commission in a post on X said that an FIR was registered on February 21, 2023, over a large number of suspicious voter deletion applications submitted online in Kalaburagi’s Aland constituency.
According to the commission, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of 46-Aland received 6,018 applications in Form 7 through apps like NVSP, VHA, and GARUDA in December 2022. “Only 24 applications were found to be genuine and another 5,994 were found to be incorrect. Accordingly, 24 applications were accepted and 5,994 incorrect applications were rejected and not deleted,” the post said.
Based on the inquiry by Booth Level Officers, the ERO lodged an FIR (No.26/2023) at Aland Police Station on February 21, 2023. The commission further said that on September 6, 2023, all available details were shared with the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi, to aid the investigation. These included objector details, EPIC numbers, mobile numbers used for login, IP addresses, software application mediums, and timestamps of submissions.
The CEO, Karnataka, also held meetings with the investigating officer and cyber security experts to review progress and assured that the office continues to provide all required documents and assistance to the police.
What Rahul Gandhi said
At his press briefing, Rahul Gandhi claimed that a systematic effort was underway to delete opposition voters across India. He alleged that impersonators used a centralised software system to file deletion applications in bulk. Displaying data from Karnataka’s Aland constituency, he said that over 6,018 votes were targeted in 2023.
“In Aland, Karnataka, 6,018 votes, somebody tried to delete these votes. We do not know the total number of votes deleted in the 2023 elections, but somebody got caught. It was caught, like most crimes, by coincidence,” he said.
Also read | 'Mobiles, software used': Rahul Gandhi explains how Karnataka's Aland saw massive voter deletions; CEC rejects claim
Rahul explained that the alleged fraud came to light when a Booth Level Officer (BLO) noticed her uncle’s name missing from the rolls. Upon inquiry, she found that her neighbour’s phone number had been used to file the deletion. The neighbour, however, denied any involvement. “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,” he said.
The Congress leader further alleged that mobile numbers from outside Karnataka were used to impersonate voters in Aland. “The filing was done using software, mobile numbers outside Karnataka were used to delete numbers in Aland and it was done targeting Congress voters,” he charged.
Rahul added that the targeted deletions primarily affected Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, minorities, and other communities traditionally supporting opposition parties. “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,” he said.
He framed the issue as a direct threat to India’s 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 declared.
The leader of opposition reiterated that his claims were backed by evidence. “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.”
This was not Rahul Gandhi’s first such allegation. On August 7, he had accused the BJP of rigging voter rolls in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency. Citing a party review, he claimed over one lakh bogus entries were detected, including tens of thousands with fake addresses and duplicate registrations. According to him, BJP’s 32,707-vote win in Bangalore Central was aided by “1,00,250 bogus votes” that 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 misuse of Form 6 for first-time voters.
BJP’s response: What Amit Shah & Anurag Thakur said
Rahul Gandhi’s allegations sparked immediate counter-attacks from BJP leaders, who dismissed his press conference as theatrics.
Union home minister Amit Shah , while addressing BJP workers in Bihar’s Rohtas district, accused Rahul of spreading lies. “They (Congress) spread a false narrative every time. Rahul Gandhi did a Yatra… The topic of his yatra was not vote theft . The topic was not good education, employment, electricity, roads… The topic of the tour was saving the infiltrators who have come from Bangladesh. Have any of you lost their votes? This was Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra ’,” Shah said.
Also read | 'Spreading false narrative': Amit Shah slams Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ charge; terms Congress leader's rally as 'Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra'
He added that the Congress wanted infiltrators to enjoy the same rights as citizens. “Should infiltrators have the right to vote or free rations? Should infiltrators get jobs, houses, treatment up to 5 lakh rupees? Instead of our youth, this Rahul Baba and company are giving jobs to vote bank infiltrators,” he charged.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur went a step further, suggesting that if there was “vote chori” in Aland, then Congress itself had benefitted. “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.
He mocked Rahul Gandhi for “dropping a hydrogen bomb on himself.” “Rahul Gandhi himself admitted in his press conference that he is not here to save democracy. If not to save it, then is his goal to destroy it? By taking help from toolkits, he constantly questions and undermines our constitutional institutions,” Thakur said.
Thakur also attributed Rahul’s accusations to his “frustration” after multiple defeats. “The Congress has lost approximately 90 elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. His frustration is increasing day by day. He has made politics of allegations his ornament. It has become a habit of Rahul Gandhi to make incorrect and baseless allegations. Seeking apology and being reprimanded by courts have become a routine of Rahul Gandhi,” Thakur said.
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya echoed the attack, highlighting that Congress’s own candidate B.R. Patil had won Aland in 2023. “Rahul Gandhi alleges deletion of votes in Karnataka’s Aland, in the run up to 2023 Assembly election. Fun fact: Aland AC was won by Subhash Guttedar of the BJP in 2018 and B.R. Patil (INC) in 2023. So, Congress candidate is the beneficiary of so called ‘ Vote Chori ’? Well done!” Malviya wrote.
Read | 'Did Congress win in Aland by vote chori?' BJP says Rahul 'dropped H-bomb on self'; calls presser 'phuljhari'
What Election Commission said
The Election Commission strongly rebutted Rahul Gandhi’s claims, calling them “incorrect and baseless.”
In a formal statement, the poll body clarified, “No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as conceived by Rahul Gandhi. No deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person.”
Read | 'No deletion can be done online': EC dismisses Rahul Gandhi's Aland vote-chori charge; calls it 'baseless'
The EC acknowledged that in 2023, there had been “certain unsuccessful attempts” to delete electors in Aland. It said an FIR had been filed by the Commission itself to probe the matter. “In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in Aland AC and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter,” it said.
The Commission also pointed out the electoral record of Aland, noting that BJP’s Subhash Guttedar won in 2018, while Congress’s B.R. Patil won in 2023. The EC suggested that Rahul’s claim of mass deletions did not align with the eventual outcome of the polls.
Rahul’s rebuttal to ECI’s ‘fact-check’
Hours after the Election Commission’s clarification, Rahul Gandhi struck back, accusing CEC Gyanesh Kumar of blocking investigations. He alleged that despite multiple requests from Karnataka’s CID, crucial evidence was being withheld.
“After our Aland candidate exposed the fraud, the local EC official filed an FIR, but the CID investigation has been BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka CID has written 18 letters in 18 months requesting all incriminating evidence—BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka EC has sent multiple requests to ECI to comply with the investigation—BLOCKED by CEC. Details of destination IP, device ports, and OTP trails have been withheld—BLOCKED by CEC,” Rahul wrote on X.
He warned that Congress could have lost the Aland seat had the alleged fraud not been detected. “If this vote theft had not been caught and the 6,018 votes had been deleted, our candidate could have lost the election,” he said.
Read | 'Stop giving excuses': Rahul's rebuttal to ECI's 'fact-check'; targets CEC Gyanesh Kumar
Directly addressing Gyanesh Kumar, Rahul added, “CEC Gyanesh Kumar—stop giving excuses. Release the evidence to the Karnataka CID. NOW.”
The Election Commission, however, reiterated its stance, maintaining that Rahul’s interpretation was flawed. It insisted that deletions could not occur online and only after due process, and reminded that an FIR was already lodged to probe the incident.
The latest clash adds another chapter to Rahul Gandhi’s prolonged standoff with the Election Commission. While Congress insists that the BJP is using institutional mechanisms to tilt the playing field, the ruling party maintains that Rahul’s claims are excuses for his electoral setbacks.
What Karnataka election Commission said
The Karnataka Election Commission in a post on X said that an FIR was registered on February 21, 2023, over a large number of suspicious voter deletion applications submitted online in Kalaburagi’s Aland constituency.
According to the commission, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of 46-Aland received 6,018 applications in Form 7 through apps like NVSP, VHA, and GARUDA in December 2022. “Only 24 applications were found to be genuine and another 5,994 were found to be incorrect. Accordingly, 24 applications were accepted and 5,994 incorrect applications were rejected and not deleted,” the post said.
Aland Case 2023@ECISVEEP pic.twitter.com/Z35F0PlWPW
— Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka (@ceo_karnataka) September 18, 2025
Based on the inquiry by Booth Level Officers, the ERO lodged an FIR (No.26/2023) at Aland Police Station on February 21, 2023. The commission further said that on September 6, 2023, all available details were shared with the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi, to aid the investigation. These included objector details, EPIC numbers, mobile numbers used for login, IP addresses, software application mediums, and timestamps of submissions.
The CEO, Karnataka, also held meetings with the investigating officer and cyber security experts to review progress and assured that the office continues to provide all required documents and assistance to the police.
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