NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of spreading a false narrative after the Congress leader alleged voter deletions in Karnataka’s Aland constituency.Addressing BJP workers in Bihar’s Rohtas, Amit Shah said, “They (Congress) spread a false narrative every time. Rahul Gandhi did a Yatra… The topic of his yatra was not vote theft. The topic was not good education, employment, electricity, roads… The topic of the tour was saving the infiltrators who have come from Bangladesh. Have any of you lost their votes?… This was Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra’… Should infiltrators have the right to vote or free rations? Should infiltrators get jobs, houses, treatment up to 5 lakh rupees?… Instead of our youth, this Rahul Baba and company are giving jobs to vote bank infiltrators.”Rahul Gandhi, earlier in the day, launched a scathing attack on chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the poll body was “protecting vote chors” and systematically deleting opposition voters. Displaying data from Aland, he claimed that over 6,000 votes were deleted through impersonation and centralised software manipulation. “I am going to show the youth, the people, proof that is black and white, absolutely clear that Chief Election Commissioner of India is protecting people who have destroyed Indian democracy,” he said, adding that Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, minorities and other opposition-leaning communities were being specifically targeted.Additionally, responding to the charges, BJP MP Anurag Thakur questioned whether Congress itself won by “vote chori” in Aland in 2023. “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. Calling Rahul Gandhi’s presser a “phuljhari,” Thakur added, “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.”Thakur also said Rahul Gandhi’s allegations stemmed from his “frustration” after losing “around 90 elections.” BJP leader Amit Malviya echoed similar sentiments, pointing out that while Rahul accused the BJP of “vote chori” in Aland, it was Congress candidate B.R. Patil who eventually won the seat in 2023.Meanwhile, the Election Commission rejected Rahul Gandhi’s accusations, clarifying that “no deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public.” The poll body said certain unsuccessful attempts at deletions in Aland were detected in 2023, after which an FIR was filed for investigation. Go to Source
