ECI 'stone-walling' voter deletion information probed by Karnataka CID, says Mallikarjun Kharge

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday accused the Election Commission of "stone-walling" critical information to track culprits engaged in "mass voter deletion" in Karnataka's Aland assembly constituency, and asked who the poll body is shielding.

In a post on X, he said the Karnataka CID is probing the voter deletion case in Aland constituency and asked if the country can afford a democracy where the electoral system is being dismantled by the "vote chori machinery".

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting "vote chors" and people who have destroyed democracy, and cited data from a Karnataka Assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.

Noting that the claims are just another milestone in telling the country's youth on how elections are being "rigged" in the country, Gandhi while addressing a press conference said the Election Commission must stop the alleged vote deletion practices and provide the information to the Karnataka CID within a week in the investigation carried out by them.

"CID probing the Aland AC voter deletion case, wrote 18 letters to Election Commission in 18 months, but ECI has stone-walled critical information necessary to track the culprits.

"Armed with concrete proof, Shri Rahul Gandhi has thoroughly exposed the mass vote deletion in Aland Assembly in Karnataka," Kharge said in his post.

"This leads to 3 important questions — Who is the ECI shielding? Is BJP hollowing out the very Institutions meant to protect our Democracy? Can we afford a Democracy where the Electoral System is being dismantled by a 'Vote Chori Factory?" the Congress chief also said.

"People of India, especially the young should strongly ask these questions," Kharge said.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal said, "How long will CEC Gyanesh Kumar run away from these questions? Those who were asking for affidavits are now ignoring 18 letters written by the Karnataka CID."

"The evidence of vote chori now makes it an open-and-shut case, how long will the CEC remain silent to protect his masters? "With every subsequent exposé, the country is seeing the Vote Chori even more clearly. The ECI must respond immediately, the country is waiting for answers," Venugopal also said.

Gandhi had earlier made allegations of "vote chori" in the Mahadevapura assembly constitution through mass addition of votes.