Key Points

"This is a childish statement of the Leader of Opposition, he has no idea of the local or booth level..." Tatkare told reporters.

While responding to the vote theft allegations made by Rahul Gandhi, Tatkare highlighted that the electoral roll is frequently updated. After the list is prepared, suggestions and objections are considered.

"Electoral roll is being modified all the while, and while it is published at a certain time, objections and suggestions can be taken.." added Tatkare.

He further claimed that the booth officers and block officers from each party are selected, and also questioned whether Gandhi thinks his party workers were also involved in vote theft, since his people were present at the booth too. "Booth-level officers from each party are chosen from each party. As per him, his people were present too. Does he believe that they, too, were involved in that activity? This is the question I want to ask," questions Tatkare.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi made a fresh allegation, claiming that there was an attempt at vote theft in Karnataka's Aland constituency. Addressing a press conference yesterday, he claimed that an attempt was made to delete more than 6,000 voters' names from the Aland constituency in Karnataka.

"In Aland, Karnataka, 6018 votes, somebody tried to delete these votes. We don't know the total number of votes deleted in the 2023 elections, but somebody got caught. It was caught, by most crimes, by coincidence. What happened was that the Booth Level officer noticed that her uncle's vote had been deleted," claimed Gandhi.

Gandhi also alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, is "protecting vote chors" and is fully aware that the fraud is occurring in the deletion and addition of fake voters to the voter list. He stated that he has "10 per cent proof" that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is "protecting vote chors (vote thieves)."

Later, responding to Rahul Gandhi's allegation, ECI described these allegations as "baseless and incorrect", highlighting that no deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka also responded to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's fresh claims of "vote chori" in Aland constituency, stating that the poll body had already rejected all incorrect applications and an FIR was filed in the matter in 2023.

Meanwhile, other politicians have also criticised Rahul Gandhi's vote theft claims. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accused the Lok Sabha LoP of spreading lies and claimed that Rahul Gandhi's much-hyped "hydrogen bomb" is baseless.

"Rahul Gandhi had announced a hydrogen bomb. The entire country was in shock, wondering what kind of bomb Rahul Gandhi was going to drop, but it turned out to be a dud. Rahul Gandhi lies with such clarity. To continuously lie in front of the national media like this is an art that only Rahul Gandhi has," Fadnavis said.

Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao also slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and called his press conference a "big joke".

"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 false and childish, with no basis in truth. They are mainly based on some kids playing with software, deleting and adding names randomly," Rao told ANI.

- ANI