NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anurag Thakur questioned whether Congress won Aland assembly seat in 2023 by “vote chori” after leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged mass voter deletion in Karnataka constituency. “According to the records, it was the Congress candidate from the Aland assembly constituency who had won. So, did Congress win by stealing votes?” he asked.Dismissing Rahul’s presser as a “phooljhari”, Thakur said that Rahul dropped a “hydrogen bomb on himself” as he “admitted that he is not here to save democracy.””Rahul Gandhi himself admitted in his press conference that he is not here to save democracy. If not to save it, then is his goal to destroy it? By taking help from toolkits, he constantly questions and undermines our constitutional institutions,” he said. Attacking the LoP on similar lines, BJP leader Amit Malviya said, “Rahul Gandhi alleges deletion of votes in Karnataka’s Aland, in the run up to 2023 Assembly election. Fun fact: Aland AC was won by Subhadh Guttedar of the BJP in 2018 and B.R. Patil (INC) in 2023. So, Congress candidate is the beneficiary of so called ‘Vote Chori’? Well done!”Thakur further slammed the Congress leader for repeatedly raising doubts at the Election Commission’s integrity, terming it his “frustration” of losing over “90 elections.” “The Congress has lost approximately 90 elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. His frustration is increasing day-by-day. The has made politics of allegations his ornament. It has become a habit of Rahul Gandhi to make incorrect and baseless allegations. Seeking apology and being reprimanded by courts have become a routine of Rahul Gandhi,” he said.The Elections Commission too dismissed Rahul’s charge that over 6,018 voters were deleted from Aland saying, “no deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public.””In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in Aland AC and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter,” the poll body said.Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of shielding “vote chors” and systematically deleting Congress supporters’ names from voter rolls. He claimed a centralized software-driven method was being used to impersonate voters and erase names, mainly targeting Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, minorities, and other opposition-leaning communities. Displaying Aland data, he asserted he had “100% proof” of vote manipulation.Also read: Rahul Gandhi escalates ‘vote chori’ war, says ‘Getting help from inside ECI’
