Rahul Gandhi’s Claims on Voter Deletion Are Baseless, Says Election Commission
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday strongly denied allegations made by Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, regarding voter deletions. In an official statement, the Commission described the claims as “incorrect” and “baseless.”
Rahul Gandhi had accused the ECI of allowing the deletion of voters—particularly those from communities and polling booths that traditionally support the Congress—through the use of software manipulation. He specifically cited the Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka, claiming that over 6,000 votes had been removed from the electoral rolls.
Responding to these accusations, the Election Commission clarified that no votes can be deleted online by any member of the public, countering what it called a “misconception” in Gandhi’s statement.
The Commission also provided background on the Aland constituency, stating that in 2023, there were some failed attempts to delete voters’ names, which were flagged and investigated. An FIR was registered by ECI officials themselves to probe the incident.
The ECI further noted that the Aland seat was won by BJP’s Subhash Guttedar in 2018 and by Congress’ B.R. Patil in 2023, suggesting that the outcome did not reflect any large-scale manipulation.
The poll body urged political leaders to avoid spreading misinformation that could undermine public trust in the electoral process.
