New Delhi: Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (September 18) accused chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “protecting vote chor (thieves)” as he alleged that about 6,018 votes in Karnataka’s Aland constituency were deleted by impersonating voters, using mobile numbers outside the state, through a software to systematically target booths where the Congress was winning. Gandhi said that a software was used to use those voters who were numbered serial number 1 in their booths, to file applications for deletions.Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Gandhi said that an FIR had been filed in February 2023, following which the Karnataka CID had written to the Election Commission 18 letters in 18 months, the CEO (chief electoral officer) of Karnataka too had raised the matter with the Election Commission of India but received no response. Gandhi demanded that the Karnataka CID must release evidence in a week. The Election Commission, on the other hand, has responded moments after his press conference with a post on X to say that his allegations are “incorrect and baseless”, while admitting that an FIR was filed in 2023 “after certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors” in Aland.“Now this is absolute solid proof that 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,” said Gandhi at the press conference.Gandhi said that of the 10 booths with the maximum deletions, eight were Congress strongholds which the party had won in the 2018 assembly elections. The deletions were caught after a booth level officer found her uncle’s name deleted which led her to her neighbour who said that they had no knowledge of doing so.“In Aland, 6,018 applications were filed, impersonating voters. The people who allegedly filed these applications never actually filed them,” said Gandhi.“The filing was done automatically using software. Mobile numbers from outside Karnataka, from different states were used to delete votes in Aland, specifically targeting Congress voters. This wasn’t random. We’ll show you that these deletions specifically targeted booths where the Congress party was winning.”Gandhi furnished video recordings of a voter named Godabai who said that she had no knowledge of how her name was used to delete the names of 12 voters. Example number ONE:A lady called Godabai. Someone created fake logins, deleted 12 voters, and attempted to delete—because this attempt was stopped. Godabai, of course, has no idea.These were the cell phone numbers that were used to delete these people from voter list. These… pic.twitter.com/UzYkIv2opS— Congress (@INCIndia) September 18, 2025Gandhi also presented one Suryakant, who had filed 12 deletion forms in 14 minutes. One of those whose name was deleted Babita Chaudhary was also presented at the press conference.Example 02: SuryakantThis gentleman apparently deleted 12 voters in 14 minutes. He filled 12 deletion forms in 14 minutes.Babita Chaudhary is one of the votes that Suryakant is supposed to have deleted.: LoP Shri @RahulGandhi, in the presence of Mr. Suryakant and Ms.… pic.twitter.com/6RcIh2muY1— Congress (@INCIndia) September 18, 2025In another instance, a voter named Nagaraj purportedly filed and submitted two forms in 36 seconds at around 4am.Gandhi alleged that this was being done at a “central level” through which those whose names were being used to delete voters were serial number 1 in their booth.“How this is being done and why we are saying that this is being done in a centralised manner. This is being done not by individuals but through the use of software. Look at the serial numbers: serial number 1 means that this is the first name in the booth. So a software is picking up the first name in the booth and using it to delete voters,” he said. “So someone ran an automated program that ensured the first voter of the booth was the applicant. That same person got cellphones from outside the state and used them to file their applications. And we are pretty certain that this was done in a centralised manner, and it was done at scale. This was not done at a worker level. This was done at a call centre level.”Gandhi alleged that this was a planned operation in which the top ten booths in which there were the maximum number of deletions, were Congress strongholds.“Congress won 8 out of the 10 booths in 2018. This was not a coincidence; this was a planned operation,” he said.Gandhi alleged that after an FIR was filed in February 2023, Karnataka CID had sent 18 letters to the Election Commission in the last 18 months asking for the IP address from where these forms were filled, device destination ports from where these applications were filed and the OTP (one time password) trails. But the Election Commission had refused to do so.“The FIR is filed in February 2023. Karnataka CID writes to ECI requesting all details of these numbers and these transactions almost immediately in March. In August, EC gives the reply. It doesn’t fulfil any of the demands and doesn’t give us the information. It also doesn’t give the CID of Karnataka the information that will lead them to their destination. In January 2024, the Karnataka CID writes to the EC again and asks for full information. But it gets no answer from EC. Karnataka CID by September 2025 has written 18 reminder letters. 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,” he said.“Now this is absolute solid proof that 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.”Election Commission admits to FIR on ‘unsuccessful attempts’ at deletions but calls allegations baselessIn its response on X, the Election Commission said no deletion of any voter can be done online by any member of the public “as misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi.”However, the poll body then went on to say that “unsuccessful attempts” were made to delete voters in 2023.“In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in Aland assembly constituency and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter. As per records Aland assembly constituency was won by Subadh Guttedar (BJP) in 2018, and B.R. Patil (INC) in 2023,” it noted.Gandhi has said that the Election Commission must release evidence to the Karnataka CID in one week.In a subsequent post on X, Gandhi went on to allege that the CID investigation has been “blocked” by CEC Kumar.“After our Aland candidate exposed the fraud, the local EC official filed an FIR, but the CID investigation has been – BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka CID has written 18 letters in 18 months requesting all incriminating evidence – BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka EC has sent multiple requests to ECI to comply with the investigation – BLOCKED by CEC. Details of destination IP, device ports, and OTP trails have been withheld – BLOCKED by CEC,” he said in a post.“If this vote theft had not been caught and the 6,018 votes had been deleted, our candidate could have lost the election. CEC Gyanesh Kumar – stop giving excuses. Release the evidence to the Karnataka CID,” he added.