On September 18, at the Indira Bhawan in New Delhi, a special press conference was convened by the leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. In the 44 minutes and 25 seconds press conference, Rahul Gandhi called a “Vote Chori Factory,” a sophisticated and centralised operation to manipulate electoral rolls.
He highlights the alleged vote theft incident in the Aland constituency of Karnataka. He said that in the Aland constituency of Karnataka, 6,018 votes were found to have been deleted. Gandhi stated that person was caught by co-incidence. A booth-level officer noticed that her own uncle’s vote had been deleted
He continued to explain that when the BLO checked who deleted the vote, it appeared to be a neighbour. However, it was not the neighbour. The person whose vote was deleted and the person whose name was used to delete it were both unaware of the act. The real culprit, he alleged, was a different force that had “hijacked the process” and “used the software that deleted the voters.” This was not a human crime, but a crime of a system, a “centralised criminal operation to steal elections.”
LIVE: Special Press Conference – Vote Chori Factory https://t.co/ne8cdFCnMs
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 18, 2025
Modus Operandi: fake logins and hijacked identities
The modus operandi of the perpetrators was cunning. Rahul Gandhi presented evidence during the Press Conference that a 63-year-old woman named Godabai had a fake login created in her name and was used to delete 12 voters from Aland, Karnataka. When Gandhi’s team investigated, she claimed that she didn’t file any application to delete any votes.
Evidence of alleged voter fraud in Aland constituency, Karnataka
In support of his allegations on the Aland constituency, Rahul Gandhi presented five key pieces of evidence to show how the alleged fraud occurred:
- Fake logins and impersonation: Fake logins were allegedly created in the name of a 63-year-old woman named Godabai to delete 12 voters. Rahul Gandhi’s team found that Godabai had not filed any such applications. The fraud was further evidenced by the use of mobile numbers from different states to delete 12 neighbours.
- Identity hijacked for mass deletions: The identity of Suryakant Govin, a 67-year-old retired college principal, was allegedly hijacked. His credentials were used to file nine applications to delete voters, a fact he was unaware of. These applications were used to delete 12 voters in just 14 minutes.
- Humanly impossible application speed: The press conference showed evidence of two applications being filed and submitted within just 36 seconds, which was described as “humanly impossible.” This points to the use of an automated program rather than individual human action.
- Automated program targets: It was alleged that the perpetrators used an automated program that ensured the first voter of a booth was always the applicant. This pattern of using the credentials of the first or second voter on a local list to file deletion requests for others was presented as a clear sign of a sophisticated, automated operation.
- Targeted deletions in strongholds: The deletions were not random. The evidence presented alleged that they were a “planned operation” with “targeted deletions in strong congress booths.” It was noted that the top 10 booths with the maximum number of deletions were Congress strongholds, where the party had won 8 out of 10 booths in the 2018 elections.
Based on this evidence, Rahul Gandhi asserted, “there is undeniable proof that CEC Gyanesh Kumar is protecting vote theft.”
The Original PPT on The Aland Files, presented by Rahul Gandhi can be read here
CID’s stalled investigation and unanswered letters
Rahul Gandhi revealed that, the investigation by the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into the alleged fraud has been stalled. The timeline presented reveals a pattern of persistent requests from the CID to the Election commission of India (ECI) that have allegedly gone unanswered.
- February 2023: an FIR was filed following the discovery of the fraudulent applications.
- March 2023: the Karnataka CID wrote to the ECI, requesting all details related to the applications to further their investigation.
- August 2023: the ECI provided only partial portal information, which included dynamic IP addresses that were linked to over 200 users each, leaving the CID with an impossible task.
- January 2024 to present: the Karnataka EC has been repeatedly requesting full information from the ECI, including the crucial destination IP and destination port details needed to identify the culprits. Rahul Gandhi stated that the Karnataka CID has sent a total of 18 letters to the election commission, but the ECI has not replied, effectively stalling the investigation.
The Vote Chori Factory: a multi-state scam
In addition to the Aland case, Rahul Gandhi referred to a similar scam in Maharashtra’s Rajura assembly, calling it the “same scam in Rajura assembly.” He noted that while the Aland case focused on “deletions,” the Rajura scam involved “additions.” The press conference highlighted “6850 fake online additions” in Rajura using “fake names, fake addresses.” This was presented as evidence that the “same vote chori factory” was operating across different states with different tactics.
Election Commission of India must stop protecting Vote Chors.
They should release all incriminating evidence to Karnataka CID within 1 week. #VoteChoriFactory pic.twitter.com/Abiy1OHLQP
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 18, 2025
Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against the Election Commission
Addressing the media, Rahul Gandhi briefed the story from Aland. He alleged that “the one who’s deleting votes, the one whose vote is being deleted, both don’t know about it.”
He asserted that the use of mobile numbers from outside states and the lack of response from the ECI proved a coordinated effort.
He further alleged that “CEC Gyanesh Kumar is protecting Vote-Chors (theft)” and that “The Chief Election Commissioner of India is protecting those who have destroyed Indian democracy.”
He ended his press conference with a final plea, suggesting that “people from within ECI (officials) are now coming forward with inside information.” This was not just a demand for information; it was a challenge to the integrity of an institution that is the bedrock of India’s democracy.
CID probe and challenges in investigation
The case was handed over to Karnataka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which soon uncovered a meticulously planned operation. The thousands of forged Form 7s were submitted online through the ECI’s official platforms: the National Voter Service Portal (NVSP), the Voter Helpline app (VHA), and the Garuda app.
The ECI initially shared a data dump with the CID in September 2023. This included the mobile numbers used to create login IDs on the apps and the Internet Protocol (IP) logs associated with the submissions. But this data only deepened the mystery. Investigators tracked down nine of the mobile numbers. They belonged to people in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, many of whom were digitally illiterate and swore they had never created accounts on any ECI app.
The IP logs presented an even bigger challenge. The culprits had used dynamic IP addresses, which are temporary and assigned to multiple users by internet service providers. The data provided by Telecom Service Providers pointed to IPV4 addresses, with each address linked to over 200 users. This left the CID facing an impossible task, sifting through over 8 lakh potential devices.
Investigation stalled due to concealment of critical data
To cut through this digital fog, the CID identified the need for two specific data points: the Destination IP and the Destination Port. Unlike a dynamic source IP, these details provide a unique digital address for the server that received the application and the specific endpoint of the communication. This information would allow investigators to drastically narrow their search and pinpoint the actual devices used to perpetrate the fraud. This is where the investigation stalled.
CID’s repeated requests ignored by Election Commission
A cache of official letters, six from the CID to the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), laid bare the investigators’ mounting frustration. Rahul Gandhi stated that the “Karnataka CID sent 18 letters to the Election Commission,” and the “Election Commission did not reply to the CID’s letter.”
The documents revealed a paper trail of urgent and unanswered requests. In a letter dated February 1, 2025, the CID Investigating Officer states plainly, “During the course of investigation, the IP Logs are provided. On perusal the Destination IP and Destination Port are missing. Therefore, it is requested to direct the concerned to provide the same.” This wasn’t a one-off request. The letter referenced a previous communication from January 15, 2025.
CID letter dated 01.02.205 can be read here
Further letters were sent on February 15 and February 25, each one repeating the exact same plea for the missing data.
CID’s letter to CEO, Karnataka on 15.02.2025 can be read here
CID’s letter to CEO, Karnataka on 25.02.2025 can be read here
The letters also reveal deeper concerns about the security of the ECI’s own applications, with the CID posing pointed questions about the existence and implementation of OTP/Multifactor authentication on its platforms—questions that have allegedly gone unanswered.
Confidential records further show that the Karnataka CEO’s office has been diligently forwarding these urgent requests to the ECI headquarters in New Delhi. Communications on this matter were sent on February 4, 2025.
Karnataka CEO’s letter dated 04.02.2025 can be read here
Again, on March 14, 2025, explicitly asking the ECI’s ICT division to provide the information sought by the CID. Yet, the data remains elusive, and the investigation remains frozen.
CEO, Karnataka’s letter to ECI dated 14.03.2025
Background: discovery of the conspiracy
The alleged conspiracy first came to light in the politically charged weeks of February 2023. B.R. Patil, a senior Congress leader, received a disturbing tip. A local Booth Level Officer (BLO) discovered a startling online application to delete a voter’s name, a Form 7, had been filed to remove her own brother from the electoral rolls.
He was a known supporter of Patil’s, and he had made no such application. “The application was made in the name of another voter in the same village, who was also not aware of it. This tipped us off,” said Patil, who had narrowly lost the 2018 election by just 697 votes.
What started as a single fraudulent form quickly snowballed into a deluge. An on-ground verification ordered by the Aland Returning Officer, Mamata Devi, scrutinised 6,018 Form 7 applications. The findings were staggering as only 24 were genuine.
The remaining 5,994 applications were forgeries, a systematic attempt to wipe legitimate voters off the list. An FIR was filed, and an investigation was launched to find the masterminds behind this digital conspiracy. The evidence pointed to a sophisticated operation using “automated filing of online EC forms, Mobile numbers from outside Karnataka, and Targeting Congress votes.”
Notably, the forged applications to delete the names of both Barabayi and Ali were filed in the name of Suryakant Govin, a 67-year-old retired college principal. Govin was shocked to learn his identity had been hijacked. “There were nine applications made in my name to delete voters… I don’t know how the miscreants did it,” he explained. “While my other credentials, including EPIC number and photo are correct, phone numbers are different in each application. None of them belong to me,” The Hindu reported on September 7, 2025.
This pattern repeated itself across the constituency. The credentials of the first or second voter on a local list were frequently misused to file deletion requests for others. Entire families were targeted, as was the case with Veeranna Honashetty, a retired policeman, who discovered applications to delete eight votes in his household, including that of his wife, Revamma. The targets, Patil alleges, were overwhelmingly his supporters, as reported
In light of these allegations and the stalled investigation, Rahul Gandhi laid down a clear demand that “Gyanesh Kumar should stop protecting vote chors.” He demanded that the ECI must release all incriminating evidence related to the Aland, Rajura, and Mahadevapura cases to the Karnataka CID within one week.
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