'Chunaav ka chowkidaar' protected 'vote chors': Rahul's dig at Election Commission

Rahul's remarks came a day after he ramped up his attack on the issue of vote theft, accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who 'destroyed democracy'.

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday reiterated his "vote chori" allegations and took a swipe at the Election Commission, calling it an "election watchman" who "stayed awake, watched the theft, and protected the thieves".

His remarks came a day after he ramped up his attack on the issue of vote theft, accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who "destroyed democracy".

To buttress his allegation, he cited data from a Karnataka assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted.

The Election Commission dubbed the allegations "incorrect and baseless" and said. "No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Gandhi." In a post in Hindi on X on Friday, Gandhi said, "Wake up at 4 a.m. Eliminate two voters in 36 seconds, Then go back to sleep - this is how vote theft happens!" "Chunaav ka chaukidar jaagta raha, chori dekhta raha, choron ko bachata raha (The election watchman stayed awake, watched the theft, and protected the thieves)," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha charged.

Gandhi also shared a 36-second video from his press conference in which he explains the modus operandi of the alleged "vote theft".

In a post on Thursday evening, Gandhi had said, "The nation's youth, the nation's students, the nation's Gen Z, will defend the Constitution, protect democracy, and stop vote theft. I always stand with them. Jai Hind!" In his fresh offensive against the Election Commission, Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said Thursday that the poll panel must stop protecting "vote chors" and provide within a week information sought by the Karnataka CID in an investigation into voter deletions.

If not, it will be known for sure that the poll body is complicit in the "murder of the Constitution", Gandhi alleged at his press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters here.

And this, he said at the outset, was not the "hydrogen bomb" revelations that he had promised. That will happen soon.

Gandhi cited details of alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in Karnataka's Aland constituency in the run up to 2023 assembly polls. He also gave the example of Maharashtra's Rajura constituency where he claimed 6,850 voters were added in a "fraudulent" manner using automated software.

"Same system is doing this. It is doing it in Karnataka, Maharashtra, it has done it in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and we have proof of it," the Congress leader had alleged.

"Our demand is Gyanesh Kumar, do your job... You have taken an oath, you are India's chief election commissioner, you must give evidence to the Karnataka CID," Gandhi had said, directly taking on the CEC.

He had also asked the CEC to "stop giving excuses" and release evidence to the Karnataka CID immediately. PTI ASK DV DV