Aland MLA Backs Rahul Gandhi's 'Vote Chori' Charge, BJP Claims Congress Was Beneficiary

Last Updated:September 18, 2025, 14:19 IST

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, alleged that over 6,000 applications were filed impersonating voters in a bid to delete names of original voters.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, alleged that over 6,000 applications were filed impersonating voters in a bid to delete names of original voters. (Photo: X)

BR Patil, Congress MLA from Karnataka’s Aland, on Thursday doubled down on allegations levelled by Rahul Gandhi and said there was a vote theft attempt.

Speaking to CNN-News18, the Congress leader said that he would have lost the seat if the party had not found out about voter deletions.

“I have been fighting this for 2.5 years. I would have lost if we hadn’t found out about the deletions. There was an attempt at vote theft. CID has written letters 18 times. It is clear that the EC wants to cover these thieves," he said.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, alleged that over 6,000 applications were filed impersonating voters in a bid to delete names of original voters.

In Karnataka’s Aland, someone tried to delete 6,018 votes and got caught by coincidence, he said, alleging that names of voters of the Congress were being deleted systematically.

“The booth-level officer noticed that her uncle’s vote got deleted and found her neighbour had deleted the vote of her uncle. She asked her neighbour who said he had no idea. It was found that some other force hijacked the process and deleted the vote — and as luck would have it got caught," Gandhi said.

He claimed that 6,018 applications were filed impersonating voters and this filing was done automatically using mobile numbers from outside Karnataka.

Rahul Gandhi also made it clear at the outset that these were not the “hydrogen bomb" of revelations that he has promised and those will come soon.

Congress Was Beneficiary: BJP On ‘Vote Chori’ Charge

BJP IT chief Amit Malviya alleged that it was the Congress candidate who benefited from “vote chori".

Malviya pointed out that BJP’s Subhadh Guttedar registered a victory on the Aland seat in 2018, but Congress candidate Patil secured a win in 2023.

“Rahul Gandhi alleges deletion of votes in Karnataka’s Aland, in the run up to 2023 Assembly election. Fun fact: Aland AC was won by Subhadh Guttedar of the BJP in 2018 and B.R. Patil (INC) in 2023. So, Congress candidate is the beneficiary of so called ‘Vote Chori’? Well done!" the BJP leader wrote on X.

News politics Aland MLA Backs Rahul Gandhi's 'Vote Chori' Charge, BJP Claims Congress Was Beneficiary

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