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EC denies Rahul Gandhi's allegation on CEC Gyanesh Kumar as “incorrect and baseless”

EC denies Rahul Gandhi's allegation on CEC Gyanesh Kumar as “incorrect and baseless”

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi adresses a press conference at the Congress Party Headquarter Photograph: (ANI)

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The Election Commission has dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s charge that CEC Gyanesh Kumar is shielding those behind voter deletion schemes. Rahul cited Karnataka’s Aland case, where the CID sought data on forged voter deletions, but the EC admitted only failed attempts were made in 2023

The Election Commission of India on Thursday denied Rahul Gandhi's allegation that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is shielding people who are involved in voter deletion schemes. In response to Rahul Gandhi, the Election Commission asserted, "Allegations made by Shri Rahul Gandhi are incorrect and baseless. No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi.”

According to a report by The Hindu on the Karnataka CID's probe into a systematic attempt to remove names of 5,994 voters from electoral rolls by forging Form 7 in the Aland Assembly constituency in Kalaburagi district, the Election Commission has delayed the sharing of crucial data required to catch the culprit. As a result, the probe has gone cold. EC admitted that such attempts were made in 2023, but without any success, and ECI itself had reported the matter to the police authority. Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Karnataka CID has written to the ECI 18 times in the last 18 months, but the apex poll body did not share any data on this.

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Rahul Gandhi had also alleged that the attempt to delete voters from the voter list was systematically carried out across countries using automated software. He used examples from Karnataka's Aland and Maharashtra's Rajouri constituencies. Rahul Gandhi has also claimed that they are receiving insider information from the ECI, and it won't stop.

“Gyanesh Kumar ji, do your job, and you have taken an oath…Give the details to the Karnataka CID. We will demonstrate the Hydrogen bomb…I told my team that I won’t go up that stage unless we have 100% proof," warned Mr Gandhi.

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Controversial appointment of Gyanesh Kumar

CEC Gyanesh Kumar has a past marred by controversy. His hasty, midnight appointment and removal of the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee by introducing changes in the Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, was widely criticised. The law allowed a Union Minister in the selection committee by giving control to the ruling party. Notably, Gyanesh Kumar, a 1998 batch IAS, had his last role as Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, under Amit Shah.

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Kushal Deb

Kushal Deb is a mid-career journalist with seven years of experience and a strong academic background. Passionate about research, storytelling, writes about economics, policy, cult...Read More