Rahul Gandhi press conference: CEC Gyanesh Kumar should 'stop giving excuses', says Congress MP | Highlights

Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao said, "Rahul Gandhi's press conference on vote theft is a big joke. He proved that he is a joker. What is so great about what he said? This is nothing. His allegations are a farce and childish, with no basis in truth. They are mainly based on some kids playing with software, deleting and adding names randomly."

AAP Delhi President Saurabh Bharadwaj says, "The issue raised by Rahul Gandhi is serious, and the Election Commission and the central government of the country should respond to it. He said that applications have been submitted to remove 6,000 votes in a seat in Karnataka. However, while he (Rahul Gandhi) is saying this today, Arvind Kejriwal had said this in January 2025... We had pointed out that in Delhi’s New Delhi Assembly constituency, in a similar manner, applications were submitted to remove around 6,000 votes and add 10,500 new votes in just 15 days... When the same thing was being said by an opposition party, and Congress itself was contesting elections there while the BJP was winning by stealing votes, Congress remained silent, and even today, Rahul Gandhi is silent... It feels as though you (Congress) only want to fight for your own party and not for the opposition, democracy..."

He said: "Rahul Gandhi is continuously making false and fabricated attacks on India's Constitution, democracy, and the Election Commission to please his foreign friends and foreign masters."

He said: "This issue was raised before the Election Commission earlier also... We have made a number of requests to give us the data... Whatever Rahul Gandhi said is 200% right. This is going on in the entire country. We want the Election Commission to work independently. They are looking at a political angle. Even in Karnataka, they are asking us for the information."

In an X post, Rahul Gandhi says, "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. If this vote theft had not been caught and the 6,018 votes had been deleted, our candidate could have lost the election. CEC Gyanesh Kumar - stop giving excuses. Release the evidence to the Karnataka CID. NOW."

MoS Sanjay Seth said, “It shows how desperate someone can be. The Election Commission is working as per norms. Rahul Gandhi wants to create a mess through lies and disrupt the functioning of Parliament.”

Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, "When the Parliament session was going on, the same issue was raised then, to which we responded, and so did the Election Commission. But he (Rahul Gandhi) doesn’t want to listen to the EC. How did you win seats in the states where there is a Congress government? The Election Commission is an important organisation that has worked for years to earn its credibility. You are simply looking for ways to undermine it. The people of this country know who you are."

On Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi's press conference, Rajya Sabha MP Manan Kumar Mishra said, "The result of the whole press conference was nothing...There is no evidence. Rahul Gandhi always talks nonsense...Public will not be affected by this...There is no evidence of how the software was manipulated...He is placing oral allegations...There is no importance of that in the eyes of the law...The public knows he has no evidence, that is why he is putting allegations on a constitutional body like the Election Commission..."

On Lok Sabh LoP Rahul Gandhi's press conference, BJP MP Anurag Thakur said, "In 2023, unsuccessful attempts were made to remove names from the Aland Assembly constituency. The Election Commission itself had directed the filing of an FIR in this regard. The Election Commission has already provided the mobile number and IP address. After all this, what has the CID of Congress-ruled Karnataka done so far? According to the records, it was the Congress candidate from the Aland assembly constituency who had won. So, did Congress win by stealing votes? 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..."

On Lok Sabh LoP Rahul Gandhi's press conference, BJP MP Anurag Thakur said, "...While the Election Commission of India is functioning without bias, Rahul Gandhi is busy weakening democracy, misleading citizens, and trying to create a situation like Bangladesh and Nepal..."

On fresh allegations of vote theft by Rahul Gandhi, Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre said, " Whatever our leader Rahul Gandhi is saying is true. The Election Commission is acting as an agent of the BJP."

On Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegations of vote theft, Shiv Sena leader Shaina NC said, "Rahul Gandhi has taken on a new profession, as a spy agent and a flop professor. He sits with this PPT project and keeps on flogging newspapers and papers in his hand as if to suggest the election commission has done something wrong. What is this theory of a hydrogen bomb, I'd like to ask. It is an absolute flop Diwali cracker. You wake up eight months after the election and flog these papers and say the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has done something which is so threatening to our democracy. In the Lok Sabha elections, when you win particular seats, that seems to be the mandate of the people... Please stop playing theatrics, photo ops and constant drama, do some real work because if you continue to try to be a professor and try to save the democracy with false narratives, the people will never vote you in..."

 On Lok Sabh LoP Rahul Gandhi's press conference, BJP MP Anurag Thakur said, "A leader who loses election after election and is repeatedly rejected by the public, under whose leadership the Congress party has lost nearly 90 elections. His frustration and despair are continuously increasing, and Rahul Gandhi has made the politics of allegations his ornament. When asked to authenticate the allegations made by him, he turns his back and runs away; when asked to give an affidavit, he backs out. Making baseless allegations has become his habit. It has become Rahul’s habit to make incorrect and baseless allegations be it on Rafale or ‘chowkidar chor.’ He repeatedly makes false claims and then ends up apologising. Rahul Gandhi was supposed to drop a hydrogen bomb in today's press conference, but had to make do with a sparkler, which also fizzled out. The Election Commission has said that no deletion of any vote can be done by any member of the public and that no deletion can take place without giving the affected person an opportunity to be heard."

On Rahul Gandhi's claims on deletion of votes, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said, "Those who have lost the trust and confidence of the people can do nothing except make such allegations. They are completely frustrated, which is why they make such statements."

On Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegations of vote theft, Haryana Minister Anil Vij said, "He is the first leader in the world who wants to drop an atom bomb or hydrogen bomb on his own country. If he had good intentions, then he would have used better words. He mostly uses negative words."

On Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegations of vote theft, CPI MP P Sandosh said, " These allegations levelled by Rahul Gandhi are very serious in nature. He directly attacked the Chief Election Commissioner, stating that the CEC is protecting the people who are destroying the Constitution and democracy. Rahul Gandhi had enough proof to show. Vote theft of 6000 votes was shown with evidence...Election Commission of India should make it very clear who had done this. A software was developed for this, it was not done by a human...

On allegations made by Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, MoS Defence Sanjay Seth said, "How desperate can someone be?... You are the LoP. You cannot wave the Constitution book for show... You don't trust the ED, CBI, the EC, the EVM and the public. You raise questions about Operation Sindoor and the surgical strike... This is why the public does not take you seriously. You lost three times, and now you are pouring the frustration on the Election Commission. The people will sideline you again in Bihar..."

On Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegations of vote theft, Maharashtra Congress leader Nana Patole said, "...He has stated that wrong practices are being done in the country and it must be stopped and the relevant authorities must be accountable...He had an example of one constituency where a Congress candidate lost..."

Allegations made by Rahul Gandhi against CEC Gyanesh Kumar are baseless and incorrect, said the Election Commission.

On allegations made by Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Does Rahul Gandhi understand the Constitution? He went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued directions. Did he make a stake? He does not understand the law or the Supreme Court's directions. He only shouts 'Samvidhan, Samvidhan'... The main thing is clear; if Rahul Gandhi does not get votes, then what can we do? The nation will never forget his actions. He is the LoP. He should have some values... He is insulting the country's voters... The people will again give him a befitting reply. All his bombs will diffuse. He trusts no one... I condemn this..."

Rahul Gandhi said, "We have our people in the Election Commission. Now, from inside the Election Commission, we are starting to get information about 'vote theft'."

As a patriotic Indian who loves the Constitution, it is my duty to bring truth to protect democracy, said Rahul Gandhi on vote theft allegations.

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "The shocking thing is that this has been going on for the last 10-15 years. This is a system, this is a structure. The democracy is hijacked. Democracy can only be saved by the people of India. Nobody else can save democracy. Rahul Gandhi can come here and say something and say this is the truth, but the people of India can do it..."

On being asked if he will approach the Court or any higher agency, Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "Frankly, what I am doing here is not my work. My work is to participate in the democratic system. My work is not to protect the democratic system. That is the work of the institutions in India; they are not doing it, so I have to do it. By the end of our presentation, which will take 2-3 months, you will have no doubt in your mind that in India, vote theft has been done state after state, Lok Sabha after Lok Sabha elections..."

Our job is to present the truth before you; there are other institutions too, like the legal system, which should step in, said Rahul Gandhi on 'vote theft'.

The Congress leader highlights another case where a person wakes up at 4:07 am and fills up a deletion form in 36 seconds. "I am asking the youth of India, try filling up the form in 36 seconds. We are pretty certain that this was done at a centralised level, at a call centre," he said. The Congress leader also alleged that the maximum deletion was in Congress' strongholds.

At a press briefing, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi claimed that the identity of one 'Suryakant' was allegedly used to file 12 fake vote deletion forms in 14 minutes. He also claimed that the vote deletion form of one 'Babita Chaudhary' had been falsely attributed to 'Suryakant'.

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "... 'Gyanesh Kumar ji vote-choro ki raksha kar rahe hai. This is black and white evidence; there is no confusion in this..."

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "Let's come to why I'm making such a direct accusation about Gyanesh Kumar. There is an ongoing investigation into this matter in Karnataka. The CID of Karnataka has sent 18 letters in 18 months to the Election Commission, and they have asked the Election Commission for some very simple facts.  Number one, give us the destination IP from where these forms were filled. Number two, give us the device destination ports from where these applications were filed. And number three, most importantly, give us the OTP trails because when you file, you have to get OTP. 18 times in 18 months, the CID of Karnataka has written to the Election Commission for this, and they are not giving it. Why are they not giving it? Because this will lead us to where the operation is being done, and we are absolutely convinced where this is going to go."

On allegations made by Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi during the press conference, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, "It is an organised effort. It is very clear that the Election Commission is involved in this effort. And Rahul has very clearly exposed it..."

This is still not the H bomb, it is coming: Rahul Gandhi at press conference on vote theft allegations.

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "Let's talk about how this is being done and why I'm saying and we are saying that this is being done in a centralised manner and this is being done not using individuals but using software. Look at the serial numbers... A software is picking up the first name in the booth and using it to delete votes. Someone ran an automated program to ensure that the first voter at the booth was the applicant. That same person got cell phones from outside the state, used them to file the application, and we are pretty certain that this was done in a centralised manner and it was done at scale. This was not done at a worker level; this was done at a whole simpler level."

EC is defending 'murderers' of democracy by not providing details of voter deletions, alleged Rahul Gandhi.

 "Mass deletions of voters in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, and UP. CEC Gyanesh Kumar needs to stop protecting people 'murdering' Indian democracy," said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.

During a press conference, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi showed 'evidence' of alleged vote theft in Karnataka, claiming that the theft happened specifically on the booths where Congress was winning. He further claimed that a fake login was created in the name of 'Godabai' and attempted to delete 12 votes.

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "In Aland, 6018 applications were filed impersonating voters. The people who filed these applications actually never filed them. The filing was done automatically using software. Mobile numbers from outside Karnataka, from different states, were used to delete numbers in Aland, and it was done targeting Congress voters."

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said, "I want to tell the youth of India that they are defending the murderers of democracy. Our demand is that CEC Gyanesh Kumar has to release the details/data of these forms, OTPs within a week."

Rahul Gandhi alleged that the EC is defending 'murderers' of democracy by not providing details of voter deletions.

Rahul Gandhi further claimed that the Karnataka CID has started investigation seeking details from EC on deletions done, but EC not providing details.

Rahul Gandhi further said that the targeted deletion of votes done in Congress stronghold through planned action.

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "I am not going to say anything on this stage that is not backed up by 100 per cent truth. I am somebody who loves my country, I love my constitution, I love the democratic process, and I am protecting that process. I'm not going to say anything here that is not going to be based on 100% proof that you can determine."

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has alleged that voter names were deleted in centralised manner using software and not through individuals.

Rahul Gandhi introduced a 63-year-old woman named Godabai, who had allegedly filed a voter deletion application. Playing her video statement, Gandhi highlighted her claim that she had no connection with the application. He also displayed mobile numbers that were reportedly used in the deletion of voters. Another case he cited was that of Suryakant, whose 12 votes were removed. Gandhi then presented Suryakant in person, who addressed the gathering in Kannada.

"Some force systematically targeting millions of voters for deletion across India… Different communities mainly who were voting for the opposition, Dalits, Tribals, minorities, OBCs, are specifically targeted. We had heard this many times and now we found 100% proof of it," said Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi said, "Aland is a constituency in Karnataka. Somebody tried to delete 6018 votes. We don't know the total number of votes that were deleted in Aland in the 2023 election. They are much higher than 6,018, but somebody got caught deleting those 6018 votes, and it was caught by coincidence. What happened was that the booth-level officer there noted that her uncle's vote was deleted, so she checked who deleted her uncle's vote, and she found that it was a neighbour who deleted the vote. She asked her neighbour, but they said I did not delete any vote. Neither the person deleting the vote nor the person whose vote was deleted knew. Some other force hijacked the process and deleted the vote..."

Congress MP and LoP Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference, he said, "I am going to show you... the youth of India, the people of India today proof that is black and white, absolutely clear that the Chief Election Commissioner of India is protecting the people who have destroyed Indian democracy. I am also going to show you the method by which votes are being added and deleted and how that is done."

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's hydrogen bomb' press meet begins.

Addressing the concluding event of his Voter Adhikar Yatra on September 1, Rahul Gandhi had said his party will soon come out with a "hydrogen bomb" of revelations about "vote chori" and after that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be able to show his face to the country. 

Days after Rahul Gandhi hinted at dropping a "hydrogen bomb" of revelations on alleged "vote chori", the Congress announced that the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha will address a press conference on Thursday. "September 17, Special Press Briefing by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Shri Rahul Gandhi at 10 am at Indira Bhawan Auditorium," Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said on X.
He, however, did not specify the issue Gandhi would raise.