Rahul Gandhi has demanded that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) provide information within a week regarding alleged fraudulent voter additions and deletions. Gandhi accused CEC Gyanesh Kumar of shielding individuals behind these attempts and protecting "vote thieves". He claimed that if the information is not provided, the youth of India will believe that the CEC is siding with those who are stealing votes.
Gandhi's accusations revolve around alleged irregularities in the Aland constituency of Karnataka and the Rajura constituency of Maharashtra. He stated that there were attempts to delete the names of 6,018 voters in Aland in December 2022 and add the names of 6,850 "fake voters" in Rajura in 2024.
Gandhi highlighted that the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) 18 times, seeking details such as OTP trails and destination ports involved in the alleged deletions. He claims the ECI has not provided this data, because it would reveal the location from where the operations were being conducted. He further stated that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka also requested the information but received no response. According to Gandhi, this indicates that Gyanesh Kumar is protecting the people involved.
Gandhi presented the case of Suryakant, an Aland resident, and played a video of Godabai, both complainants who allegedly tried to delete voter names from the rolls. Gandhi pointed out that the first voter in every booth was picked as the complainant, suggesting the use of software to file the complaints. He claimed this is evidence of how elections are being rigged.
Gandhi also claimed that he is receiving information from within the ECI regarding voter roll irregularities across the country. He stated that millions of voters from Dalit, Adivasi, minority, and OBC communities have been deliberately removed from voter lists, alleging a systematic targeting of voters who support opposition parties.
The ECI has dismissed Gandhi's allegations as "incorrect and baseless". The commission stated that it had registered an FIR in the Karnataka case in 2023 and handed over the information to the police. However, Gandhi claims that the CID has not received sufficient evidence to progress with their investigation, even after 18 letters to the ECI requesting information such as destination IPs, device destination ports, and OTP trails. He said that only partial information was shared in August 2025.