Rahul Gandhi's latest press conference did not target his prime opposition party, the BJP, but instead trained its guns on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of stealing votes in a “planned” and “systematic” and more "organised" manner. Displaying the process in a detailed presentation, the Congress leader highlighted how no one in the chain of responsibility detects the fraud because, in his words, “the Election Commissioner is using a software at the top to add and delete votes purposefully, leading to the Congress’s defeat in a series of elections.”
This could be the first time Gandhi has offered back-to-back substantial political content for the opposition to suggest deeper collusion between the Election Commissioner and the ruling BJP at the cost of democracy. And would also give the opposition more fuel to run the elaborate campaign against the ruling dispensation.
Moreover, it is also seen to be giving the "constitution khatre me hai" (constitution is in danger) slogan, used during the Lok Sabha election by opposition, more shelf-life. The opposition, apparently, is also hinging onto the larger narrative of "constitution is in danger".
According to political observers, what stands out is the ECI’s unusually sharp rebuttals against a top opposition leader. “A bureaucrat or an independent institution would never want to get embroiled in a public spat with a politician," one analyst noted.
Gandhi also demonstrated how, in several polling booths, the software used the first voter on the each electoral list to conduct deletions or additions. He alleged that Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was enabling “someone,” though he refrained from directly naming the BJP. Gandhi further said that when he does name individuals or parties, from the Congress's stage, it will be backed by solid proof, as he would not make “baseless allegations.”
His YouTube broadcast of the press conference attracted over 60,000 likes within just 40 minutes. Still, he insisted this was not the “hydrogen bomb” he had promised earlier. That revelation, he hinted, would come “maybe next week.”
Gandhi further added that the Karnataka CID had written 18 letters in 18 months to the ECI, seeking destination IPs, device ports, and OTP trails of fake Form 7 applications. Yet, the poll body has not responded. Presenting evidence of alleged voter theft in Aland, he claimed that deletions were concentrated in the top 10 booths, where the Congress enjoys strong influence and had previously won eight of them.
He demanded that the ECI release evidence to the Karnataka CID within a week. “ECI must stop protecting vote thieves. They should release all incriminating evidence to the Karnataka CID within a week,” he said.
Today’s presentation, he described, was “evidentiary proof” against the Election Commissioner, whom he accused of undermining the country’s constitutional principles. Gandhi also said at the end of his speech that he was setting up a platform to release further evidence of corrupt practices.
The Election Commission, however, rejected Gandhi’s charges as “incorrect” and “baseless.” It responded by saying that no votes can be deleted online by members of the public, as Gandhi seemed to suggest. “No deletion can take place without giving the affected person an opportunity to be heard,” the poll body clarified.
The ECI also noted: “In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made to delete electors in the Aland Assembly Constituency, and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter.” It further pointed out that Aland was won by the BJP’s Subhash Guttedar in 2018, while Congress’s B.R. Patil secured the seat in 2023.
