Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India on Thursday, alleging systematic deletion of voter IDs from opposition strongholds in Karnataka during the 2023 Assembly elections using fake logins and out-of-state phone numbers.
Rahul Gandhi Allegations of Centralized Operation
Addressing reporters in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi claimed the voter deletions were not individual acts but part of a software-driven, centralized operation targeting millions of voters across India.
“In election after election, a group of people has been systematically targeting millions of voters for deletion across India, different communities, mainly communities that are voting for the Opposition. We have found 100 per cent proof of this,” he stated, holding up a copy of the Indian Constitution.
#WATCH | Delhi: Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says, "The Chief Election Commissioner of India, Gyanesh Kumar, needs to stop protecting the people who are destroying Indian democracy. We have given you 100% bulletproof proof here. EC has to release this data of these… pic.twitter.com/SKrXtiicor
— ANI (@ANI) September 18, 2025
Aland Constituency Case Study
Rahul Gandhi detailed specific incidents from Aland, Karnataka, where he alleged 6,018 voter deletion attempts were discovered by coincidence. “The booth-level officer noticed that her uncle’s vote was deleted, and she found her neighbour had deleted it. So, she asked the neighbour and he said he did not know about it. Neither the person who deleted the vote knew, nor the person whose vote was deleted knew,” he explained.
He claimed these applications were filed impersonating voters who were unaware of the deletions: “In Alund, 6,018 applications were filed impersonating voters. The people who filed these applications actually never filed them.”
CEC Kumar Under Fire
The Congress leader also directly targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging obstruction of investigations. He claimed Karnataka CID has sent 18 letters to the Election Commission over 18 months requesting crucial information including destination IP addresses and OTP trails from voter deletion forms.
“They are not giving it because this will lead us to where the operation is being done from. This is absolute solid proof that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting the people who are doing this,” Rahul Gandhi asserted.
Constitutional Concerns
Emphasizing the constitutional implications, he declared: “I want every single youngster to know that they are attacking this, and this is your future. When they are not giving this information, they are defending the murderers of our democracy.”
He issued an ultimatum: “Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar needs to stop protecting the people who are destroying Indian democracy. EC has to release this data within a week.”
