On 18th September, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a fresh attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) and accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of shielding “vote chors” (vote thieves). Addressing a press conference, Gandhi claimed that voters from Dalit, OBC and minority communities were being systematically targeted for deletion through a “centralised software-based mechanism”.
LIVE: Special press briefing by LoP Shri @RahulGandhi at Indira Bhawan | New Delhi. https://t.co/BfcSQU0LTd
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 18, 2025
‘I have 100% proof’, claimed Rahul Gandhi
Calling the revelations “solid proof” of large-scale voter fraud, Gandhi said he was exposing the matter out of his “love for the Constitution and democratic process”. He claimed, “I am saving my country and democracy,” while stressing that he had “100% proof” of what he described as an orchestrated operation to manipulate electoral rolls.
Karnataka’s Aland case
Gandhi cited the example of Aland constituency in Karnataka where during the 2023 elections, 6,018 deletion applications were filed in the names of voters who never submitted them. According to him, these applications were “fraudulently” made through impersonation, using mobile numbers from different states, and aimed specifically at Congress supporters.
Aland is a constituency in Karnataka; 6,018 votes. Somebody tried to delete 6,018 votes. We don't know the total number of votes that were deleted in Aland in the 2023 election. They're likely much higher than 6,018.
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 18, 2025
But somebody got caught deleting 6,018 votes, and it was… pic.twitter.com/jQeMv6KXv2
He claimed that the incident came to light by coincidence when a Booth Level Officer (BLO) noticed her own uncle’s name missing from the rolls. When she questioned a neighbour, whose credentials had been used to file the deletion, he flatly denied having done so. Gandhi claimed the entire exercise was a “part of a planned action and not isolated mistakes”.
‘Centralised operation using software’
“This deletion of votes was not done by individuals, but in a centralised manner using software,” Gandhi claimed. He insisted that it was not just about Karnataka but also Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where “mass deletions” of Congress-leaning voters had been carried out.
In Maharashtra’s Rajura, he said, at least 6,850 voters were targeted, with both deletions and additions being manipulated.
EC shielding those ‘destroying democracy’
Gandhi accused the Election Commission of “protecting the people who have destroyed Indian democracy” by not providing details of deletions sought by the Karnataka CID. “The EC is defending the murderers of democracy,” he said, demanding that the CEC immediately publish all details of voter deletions within a week.
“This is another example of vote chori through deletion of votes,” Rahul Gandhi asserted, warning that unless corrective measures were taken, the credibility of India’s democratic process itself would remain under question.
While answering questions from the media, Rahul Gandhi claimed that people from inside the Election Commission are “secretly” helping Congress to uncover these discrepancies in the electoral roll. He further claimed that this system has been followed for over 10-15 years, which could put the target on Congress itself as the party had won the general elections under the banner of UPA in 2009.
This is a developing story. Reply from Election Commission of India is awaited.
