Key Points

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Fadnavis said Rahul Gandhi's much-hyped "hydrogen bomb" turned out to be baseless.

This comes amid Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegations of an attempt at vote theft in Karnataka's Aland constituency.

"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.

The Maharashtra CM likened Rahul Gandhi's style to Goebbels's propaganda, saying he "never provides evidence" and relies on repeated lies.

He noted, "He never provides any evidence, but speaks as if he has everything. This is the technique of Hitler's minister, Joseph Goebbels: keep lying repeatedly, and perhaps people will start believing it to be true. But Rahul Gandhi, this technique will not work in this country."

Devendra Fadnavis said Rahul Gandhi, by "lying every day," insults the Constitution, judiciary and EC, adding he believes such lies will win Bihar but the state will "stand with PM Modi."

"By lying every day like this, he insults the Constitution of India, the judiciary, and the Election Commission. In a way, he is insulting the entire constitutional framework. He thinks that by lying like this, he will win Bihar, but Bihar will stand with PM Modi," the Maharashtra CM said.

Addressing a press conference today, the Congress MP claimed that there was an attempt 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 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 has been deleted," he said.

The Lok Sabha LoP further alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, is "protecting vote chors" and is fully aware of how fraud is happening in deleting and adding fake voters in 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)."

Responding to the claims, the ECI has called Rahul Gandhi's allegations "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.

The Karnataka CEO said in a statement that the ERO in Aland received 6,018 online applications through Form 7 in December 2022. "Suspecting the genuineness of such a large number of applications submitted online for deletion of electors' names in 46-Aland LAC in Karnataka, verification of each application was conducted by ERO/AERO/BLOS," an official statement said.

Only 24 applications were found to be genuine, and another 5,994 were found to be incorrect. Accordingly, 24 applications were accepted, and 5,994 incorrect applications were rejected and not deleted, the statement added.

The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has claimed that the investigation into the alleged fraud has been stalled for over 2 years, as the poll body is not replying to the letters sent by the CID, calling it "proof" that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is "protecting vote chors (vote thieves)."

- ANI