"Why don't they respond to Karnataka CID": Congress' KC Venugopal asks ECI over Rahul Gandhi's "vote theft" allegations

Wayanad (Kerala) [India], September 19 (ANI): Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Friday sought a reply from the Election Commission of India to the questions of the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) regarding the recent vote theft allegations by Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi.
Venugopal's response comes after Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged rigging of votes in Karnataka's Aland assembly constituency.
"We are asking the Election Commission just one primary question - Why don't they respond to Karnataka CID, which is seeking information from the Election Commission over Aland?," KC Venugopal told reporters.
Earlier on Thursday Congress MP Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference in the national capital and accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting "people who are destroying Indian democracy".
He claimed that a "certain group of people" are systematically cutting the votes of minority groups who specifically vote for Congress.
"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. I will also show you the methods by which votes are added, deleted and show you how it is done," Rahul Gandhi said during a press conference at the Congress headquarters.
The Congress leader further claimed that at least 6,000 votes have been deleted in the Aland Assembly constituency segment in Karnataka. Earlier, in a previous press conference, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the assembly segment of Mahadevpura in the same state also had fraud votes.
"In election after election, someone, some group of people have been systematically targeting voters for deletions across India. Different communities, mainly who are voting for opposition, Dalits, OBCs, adivasis, minorities are specifically targeted who vote for the Opposition. We had heard this many times, and now we found 100 per cent proof of it. I am not going to say anything on this stage that is not backed up by 100 per cent proof. I am somebody who loves my country, Constitution, the democratic process and I am protecting that process. I am not going to be based on 100 per cent proof that you can determine," he added.
Talking about the Aland constituency in Karnataka he alleged that around 6 thousand votes were deleted fraudulently by unknown people who used software and impersonated real voters.
"In Aland, Karnataka, 6018 votes, somebody tried to delete these votes. We don't know the total number of votes deleted in 2023 elections, but somebody got caught. It was caught, by most crimes, by a coincidence. What happened was that the Booth Level officer noticed that her uncle's vote has been deleted. When she checked she saw that her neighbour had deleted the vote," he added. (ANI)