Rahul sharpens attack on EC; claims baseless says poll body

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Election Commission (EC) of blocking the Karnataka CID's probe into the alleged “organised attempt using an automated software” to delete votes in the state’s Aland constituency during the 2023 Assembly elections.

- ARCHIS MOHAN

The EC dubbed Gandhi's allegations as “incorrect and baseless”, and asserted that no voter deletions can take place without giving an opportunity to the affected voter to be heard. It said that no deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public “as misconceived by Rahul Gandhi”.

At a press conference held an hour after Gandhi’s concluded, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Anurag Thakur claimed that Gandhi's repeated allegations against constitutional institutions such as the EC showed his lack of faith in democracy. Thakur accused him of trying to stoke chaos and create in India the kind of unrest seen in Nepal and Bangladesh.

Thakur said Gandhi, in the garb of protecting the interests of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), is trying to shield “infiltrators”.