India, Sept. 18 -- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a sharp attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of protecting "vote chors" and those who have destroyed Indian democracy. Addressing a press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters, Gandhi cited alleged large-scale voter deletions in Karnataka and fraudulent additions in Maharashtra as evidence of systematic electoral manipulation.

Calling his revelations a "milestone" in exposing how elections are being rigged, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said this was not the "hydrogen bomb" of disclosures he has promised, which would come later. He pointed to Karnataka's Aland constituency, where he claimed 6,018 votes-most...