In the wake of fresh ‘vote chori’ allegations by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Thursday demanded that the Election Commission (EC) hand over all technical details to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probing electoral irregularities in Aland Assembly seat.
“On behalf of the people of Karnataka, I demand that the Election Commission immediately hand over all technical details – IP logs, device ports, and OTP trails – to the CID within one week. If the Commission fails to do so, it will stand exposed as complicit in shielding those who are destroying democracy,” Siddaramaiah said in a post on X.
The revelations by Rahul Gandhi, he said, have once again exposed how Indian democracy was being subverted through systematic and centralised attempts at ‘vote chori’. “The Aland case in Kalaburagi is not an isolated incident but a window into a larger conspiracy to manipulate electoral rolls and deny citizens their right to vote,” he said.
Claiming that EC has refused to share the relevant data pertaining to the case for 18 months, he asked why the Central agency was withholding crucial digital evidence. “Evidence presented by Shri Rahul Gandhi shows this was no local mischief. Software was used to impersonate the first voter in each booth, fake numbers were inserted, and deletions were concentrated in Congress strongholds. Similar operations have been uncovered in Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh – and earlier in Bengaluru Central’s Mahadevapura constituency, where large-scale irregularities in voter rolls came to light,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar told a news conference that it was natural to suspect whether EC, too, was part of the conspiracy as it has refused to cooperate with the CID probe. “Not just at the Aland Assembly segment, such irregularities have taken place in other constituencies as well,” he claimed.
The names removed from the voter list hailed from Scheduled Castes, minorities and other groups who generally vote for the Congress, he added.
Responding to the development, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said that the allegations by Rahul Gandhi were backed by ‘100 percent proof’. “Poll panel has not taken any action despite complaints. This is totally unpardonable,” he said, urging the EC to start a suo-motu investigation.
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Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashok said that the Congress was making such allegations as it sensed a defeat in the Bihar Assembly polls. “If they had evidence (about irregularities) they should have gone to Court,” he said.
BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, in a post on X, said that if the Congress genuinely believed that there was an issue, they should submit an affidavit with the evidence to EC or go to court. “But neither Rahul Gandhi nor the INC is interested in truth or accountability. Their politics begins and ends with noise, lies, and eroding the credibility of Constitutional institutions like the ECI,” he said.