Rahul Gandhi says India poll panel shielding 'vote thieves'
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi made the allegations at a press conference in Delhi
- Published
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has launched a fresh attack on the country's election panel, accusing its chief Gyanesh Kumar of "protecting those murdering democracy".
Gandhi told a press conference on Thursday that names of voters had been selectively deleted from or added to electoral rolls to help the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win key state elections.
He said his allegations of rigging were backed by "100% proof" and that the poll panel had not taken action despite repeated complaints from his Congress party.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) called the allegations "incorrect and baseless, external". The BJP also rejected the claims.
The latest claims are part of a series of accusations of "vote theft" that Gandhi has made against the panel since early August.
Gandhi first raised the issue at a 7 August press conference in Delhi where he had alleged widespread voter manipulation during last year's parliamentary elections, citing data obtained from the electoral body itself.
Though the ECI and the ruling party had strongly disputed his interpretation, his claims won him support from many opposition parties.
Some former chief election commissioners have also supported him, saying the onus was on the commission to clear up any doubts about the credibility of the election process in the world's most populous country with nearly a billion voters.
At his press conference on Thursday, Gandhi cited examples from the Aland assembly constituency in the southern state of Karnataka, alleging that names of more than 6,000 voters were deleted in areas which were his party's strongholds.
He said the names were mostly of people from the minority and disadvantaged groups who were known Congress supporters. Congress candidate BR Patil won from the Aland seat in the 2023 Karnataka assembly election and the party is currently in power in the state.
Gandhi said the crime department of Karnataka police had been investigating these allegations since 2023 when the party first noticed missing names.
The investigators, he said, "had written 18 letters in 18 months to the ECI", seeking details, but had not received any response. He called on "CEC Gyanesh Kumar to release the details within a week".
In response, the ECI said voter names could not be deleted online "by any member of the public, as misconceived" by Gandhi. It added that in 2023, "certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of voters in Aland" and that the commission itself had filed a police complaint regarding this.
Gandhi also raised the issue of Rajura assembly constituency in the western state of Maharashtra where he alleged that the voters' list had added 6,850 names - many of which were fake. The Election Commission did not address this specific allegation in its response.