NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticized Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday for allegedly spreading misinformation regarding voter deletions in Karnataka’s Aland constituency. During a speech to BJP workers in Rohtas, Bihar, Shah claimed, “They (Congress) spread a false narrative every time. Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra focused not on topics like education or employment but on saving infiltrators from Bangladesh.” He questioned whether anyone had lost their votes and characterized Gandhi’s campaign as the “Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra,” implying that it aimed to protect undocumented immigrants’ rights to vote and access to government resources.
In response to Shah’s remarks, Rahul Gandhi accused the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “protecting vote chors” and systematically erasing votes of the opposition. He presented data suggesting that over 6,000 votes were deleted in Aland through impersonation and centralized software manipulation. “I will show proof that the Chief Election Commissioner is protecting those who threaten Indian democracy,” he stated, asserting that marginalized communities were particularly targeted.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur challenged Gandhi’s claims, asking if Congress had itself won through “vote chori” (vote theft) in the 2023 elections. He noted that B.R. Patil from Congress had won in Aland, suggesting a contradiction in Gandhi’s allegations. Thakur further labeled Gandhi’s press conference as a “phuljhari,” implying it was ineffective, and accused him of undermining constitutional institutions by relying on “toolkits” to question democracy.
Amit Malviya, another BJP leader, echoed these sentiments, highlighting that while Gandhi accused the BJP of vote theft, a Congress candidate had emerged victorious in the elections. The Election Commission of India subsequently refuted Gandhi’s allegations, clarifying that no vote deletions can be conducted online by the public. The Commission noted that some unsuccessful attempts to delete votes in Aland were detected in 2023, leading to an FIR for further investigation.
