Rahul Gandhi Accuses CEC of Blocking Probe Into Karnataka Voter Deletions; ECI Calls Claims Baseless

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday escalated his attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar blocked an investigation into suspected voter deletions in Karnataka’s Aland constituency.

“After our Aland candidate exposed the fraud, the local EC official filed an FIR, but the CID investigation has been — BLOCKED by CEC,” Gandhi wrote on X. He said the Karnataka CID had sent 18 letters in 18 months requesting evidence, while both the state EC and CID had repeatedly sought cooperation from the ECI “— BLOCKED by CEC.”

Gandhi claimed that 6,018 votes were almost deleted in Aland and that, if undetected, the move could have cost the Congress its seat. He further alleged that key technical data such as destination IP addresses and OTP trails had been withheld. “CEC Gyanesh Kumar — stop giving excuses. Release the evidence to the Karnataka CID. NOW,” he wrote.

The Election Commission rejected Gandhi’s charges in a sharp rebuttal posted with the tag #ECIFactCheck, calling his claims “incorrect and baseless.” It said no vote deletion can be done online by the public and noted that unsuccessful deletion attempts in 2023 had already led to an FIR filed by its own authorities.

“At Aland, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter,” the post said, pointing out that Congress candidate B.R. Patil went on to win the seat in 2023.

Earlier at a press conference, Gandhi accused the CEC of shielding “vote chors” and those who “destroyed democracy.” He alleged systematic deletion of Congress supporters’ names from voter rolls.

Later, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that all available information in the case had already been handed over to the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi, in September 2023. The CEO’s office noted that the FIR was lodged by Electoral Registration Officers, who work under the ECI, and that all documents sought by investigators had been provided.