Stop giving excuses, release evidence to Karnataka CID: Rahul to CEC Gyanesh Kumar

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) The Congress accused the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday of blocking the Karnataka CID's investigation into alleged voter deletions by refusing to release data, with Rahul Gandhi terming the poll body's response to his allegations as "excuses" and urging it to provide the information sought.

The EC dubbed as incorrect and baseless the allegations made by Gandhi that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is protecting "vote chors" (vote thieves). No deletion can take place without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person, the poll panel asserted.

Gandhi accused Kumar of protecting "vote chors" and people who have destroyed democracy, and cited data from a Karnataka Assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.

Later, after the EC's response to his allegations, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said in a post on X, "After our Aland candidate exposed the fraud, the local EC official filed an FIR, but the CID investigation has been -- BLOCKED by CEC. The Karnataka CID has written 18 letters in 18 months requesting all incriminating evidence -- BLOCKED by CEC." "The Karnataka EC has sent multiple requests to ECI to comply with the investigation -- BLOCKED by CEC. Details of destination IP, device ports, and OTP trails have been withheld -- BLOCKED by CEC," he alleged.

If this vote theft was not caught and the 6,018 votes were deleted, the Congress candidate could have lost the election, Gandhi argued.

"CEC Gyanesh Kumar -- stop giving excuses. Release the evidence to the Karnataka CID. NOW," the former Congress chief said.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also lashed out at the poll body.

"In Karnataka's Aland Assembly constituency, there was an attempt to delete voters' names on a large scale. On the complaint of our candidate, the local officer of the EC had filed an FIR. When the EC itself has admitted that irregularities were taking place, and their own officer filed the FIR, then why is the investigation being stopped?" she asked in a post in Hindi on X.

"The Karnataka CID wrote 18 letters in 18 months, but why has the EC not provided any evidence? Why are details like IP addresses, device ports, OTP etc. not being provided to the CID for the investigation? By obstructing the investigation, whom does the EC want to protect and why?" she asked.

The Congress accused the EC of blocking the Karnataka CID's investigation into alleged voter deletions by refusing to release data for 18 months and claimed that this is clear proof that the the poll body is protecting "vote chors".

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared the letter written by the Karnataka chief electoral officer (CEO) to the EC, forwarding the Karnataka CID's request seeking information, such as the destination IP from where applications for deletions were filled and OTP trails.

"It includes, as attachments, letters written by the Karnataka CID to the ECI," Ramesh said.

"It shows:-- multiple requests by the CID for complete information including destination IP IDs, OTPs, etc. -- multiple reminders by the Karnataka CEO to the ECI for the same. Why is the ECI in Delhi blocking the investigation by refusing to release data to the police for 18 months?" he asked.

This is clear proof that the EC is blocking the investigation so that "vote chors" are protected, the Congress leader said. PTI ASK RC