In a sharp critique, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi recently accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of safeguarding individuals who are actively undermining Indian democracy. Gandhi’s allegations center on a disturbing attempt to illegally remove thousands of votes from electoral rolls in Karnataka’s Aland constituency.
Specifically, Mr. Gandhi revealed that 6,018 votes were targeted for deletion in Aland using sophisticated centralized software and mobile devices operated from outside Karnataka. This comes after a recent report detailed a Karnataka CID investigation into a widespread effort to remove 5,994 voters by falsifying Form 7, an incident that occurred before the 2023 Assembly elections in Kalaburagi district.
According to Mr. Gandhi, despite the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department sending 18 official letters over 18 months, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has allegedly failed to provide crucial details regarding these suspicious deletion forms.
Addressing the media, Mr. Gandhi emphasized that these revelations serve as a critical step in exposing to the nation’s youth how elections are being manipulated. He also clarified that while significant, these were not the full ‘hydrogen bomb’ of disclosures he had previously hinted at, promising more to come.
During his press conference, Mr. Gandhi presented both a voter whose name was slated for deletion and the individual whose identity was allegedly misused to initiate the deletion process. Both parties publicly denied any knowledge of these activities, further bolstering the claim that these fraudulent deletions were orchestrated through specialized software.
Concluding his remarks, Mr. Gandhi asserted, “The ECI is fully aware of those responsible for these actions. I want every youngster in India to know this. They are doing this to your future. By withholding information, the ECI is effectively defending those who seek to murder our democracy.”