नवीनतम
Incorrect, baseless: ECI on Rahul's allegation
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday refuted Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi's allegation of deletion of more than 6,000 voters' names in Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka, calling it incorrect and baseless.
Rahul Gandhi had, in a press conference today, alleged that these deletions targeted booths where the Congress party had an advantage. Countering Gandhi's allegation, the ECI said, "Allegations made by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, are incorrect and baseless. Deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Rahul Gandhi. "
The poll panel said that no deletion can take place without giving an opportunity to be heard to the affected person. The ECI also informed that in 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for the deletion of electors in the Aland Assembly constituency, and an FIR was filed by its authority itself to investigate the matter.
"As per records, Aland Assembly Constituency was won by Subhadh Guttedar (BJP) in 2018 and BR Patil (INC) in 2023," the ECI said.
Earlier, addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Gandhi said, "The ECI is protecting those who have destroyed Indian democracy. I am going to show the method by which votes are being added and deleted, and how that's done."
Referring to the Aland Assembly constituency, he said, "Aland is a constituency in Karnataka. Somebody tried to delete 6,018 votes. We don't know the total number of votes that were deleted in Aland in the 2023 election. They're likely much higher than 6,018."
"But somebody got caught deleting 6,018 votes, and it was caught, like most crimes, by coincidence. What happened was that the booth-level officer (BLO) noticed that her uncle's vote was deleted. So, she checked who deleted her uncle's vote and found it was a neighbour. However, neither the person deleting the vote nor the person whose vote was deleted knew; some other force hijacked the process and deleted the vote, and, as luck would have it, got caught," he said.
Gandhi claimed the people who allegedly filed these applications never actually filed them. Claiming that targeted deletions were done in strong Congress booths, he said, "The top 10 booths with maximum deletions were Congress strongholds.
Congress won 8 out of the 10 booths in 2018. This was not a coincidence; this was a planned operation." Informing that there is an ongoing investigation on this matter in Karnataka, he said, " The CID of Karnataka has sent 18 letters in 18 months to the Election Commission. And they have asked the election commission for some very simple facts, including the destination IP from where these forms were filled. But they are not giving it. Why are they not giving it? Because this will lead us to where the operation is being done. And we are absolutely convinced where this is going to lead.
"While this is going on, the CEC of Karnataka writes to the Election Commission in Delhi and says there is a matter. But he receives no answer. Now this is absolute solid proof that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is protecting the people who are doing this. This is also absolute solid proof that I've shown you that this is being done in a centralised way, this is being done at scale, and this is being done using large resources," Gandhi said.
Taking a jibe at ECI, he said," The ECI knows who is doing this. When the ECI is not giving the information, they are murdering democracy. CEC Gyanesh Kumar is not telling the CID who is doing this? The same is done in UP, Maharashtra, and Haryana. CEC Gyanesh Kumar should stop protecting the people who are murdering democracy."
"Our demand is that CEC Gyanesh Kumar should give the evidence to the Karnataka CID within a week over the matter. He should do his job as he has taken the oath of the Constitution," he said. The Leader of Opposition in the Lower House asserted that his duty to tell the truth to the country. "I am fighting to protect the Constitution and democracy. India's democracy has been 'hijacked'. Only the people of India can save the democracy," he added.
