New Delhi, September 18, 2025: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those weakening Indian democracy. Speaking at a press conference at Indira Bhawan on Thursday.

Referring to Karnataka’s Aland Assembly constituency, Gandhi alleged an attempt to delete 6,018 voter names, stating, “This is not mere speculation; there is solid evidence.” He explained that a booth-level officer grew suspicious when her uncle’s vote was deleted, and upon investigation, the irregularity was uncovered. “The exact number of votes deleted in Aland is not yet clear, but an attempt was made to delete 6,018 votes,” he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urges, “Gyanesh Kumar ji, do your job, and you have taken an oath. Give the details to the Karnataka CID.” Talking about the “Hydrogen bomb” of revelation, Mr. Gandhi says, “We will demonstrate the Hydrogen bomb.” “I told my team that I won’t go up that stage unless we have 100% proof,” says Mr. Gandhi. “We will take 2-3 months to complete these presentations, and you will have no doubt that in State after State, elections are being stolen in India,” he adds. 

Rahul Gandhi gives deadline to CEC, demands release of data, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi says, “I want to tell the youth of India that they are defending the murderers of democracy.” 

Rahul Gandhi says, “Our demand is that CEC Gyanesh Kumar has to release the details/data of these forms, OTPs within a week.” 

This statement comes 40 days after Gandhi questioned the results of the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. Previously, he had alleged over one lakh votes were stolen in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency and criticized the Election Commission for colluding with the BJP.

During the closing ceremony of the ‘Voter Rights Yatra’ on September 1, Gandhi raised the same issue, stating that once evidence of “vote theft” is revealed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be able to face the public. Last month, citing 2024 Lok Sabha election data, he claimed over one lakh votes were stolen in Mahadevapura, calling vote theft an “atom bomb on our democracy.”