While claiming the much-anticipated “hydrogen bomb” is in the making, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged voter deletion during a press conference, claiming that a group of people has been targeting millions of voters for deletion across India.
“Not going to say anything on this stage that is not backed up by 100 per cent proof,” Rahul Gandhi said, asserting that he had uncovered definitive evidence of the alleged manipulation.
During the presser, the Congress leader invited Babita Choudhary, a woman whose name, he said, was deleted from voter lists, to the stage. He also called upon Suryakant, the man whose contact details were allegedly used to remove her name.
Addressing Suryakant, Gandhi asked how he could complete such a complicated deletion process in such a short time – “12 voters in 14 minutes.”
The man denied any wrongdoing, saying, “Mere naam pe 12 logo ka naam delete kiya gya hai…mujhe malum nhi… Maine kisi ko bhi message nhi kiya. (In my name, the names of 12 people were deleted. I don’t know. I didn’t send any message to anyone)”
Rahul Gandhi added, “Not done at a worker level, this was done at a call centre level,” suggesting that the deletions were carried out systematically and not by individual party workers.
The Congress leader said his party will pursue the matter further, indicating that the evidence would be submitted to authorities in the coming days.
The Leader of Opposition said that “someone” has set up a centralised criminal operation to steal elections. In Aland, he said, this operation filed 6018 deletion applications by impersonating voters using:
How it was done (according to Rahul Gandhi)
- Automated filing of online EC forms
- Mobile numbers from outside Karnataka
- Targeting Congress votes
‘Not the hydrogen bomb’
Rahul further said that the evidence presented at his press conference on vote theft allegations was still not the “hydrogen bomb,” he promised it is yet to come.
Targeting chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the Congress leader alleged, “Mass deletions of voters in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh.”
He added, “CEC needs to stop protecting people ‘murdering’ Indian democracy.”
He further claimed that while the Karnataka CID has begun probe and sought details from the Election Commission on the deletions, the EC is not providing the requested information. “Karnataka CID has started investigation seeking details from EC on deletions done, but EC not providing details,” Rahul Gandhi added.
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