'Vote Chori' Charges By Rahul Gandhi Exposed How Indian Democracy Is Subverted: K'taka CM

(MENAFN- IANS) Bengaluru, Sep 18 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Thursday that the revelations made by the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, have once again exposed how Indian democracy is being subverted through systematic and centralised attempts in the name of 'vote theft'.

Taking to his official X account, CM Siddaramaiah said, "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."

"Between February 2022 and February 2023, 6,018 Form-7 applications were filed through Election Commission apps to delete names from the voters' list of Aland Assembly constituency. Upon inquiry, only 24 were genuine; 5,994 were fraudulent. Stolen voter details, fake logins, and mobile numbers from outside Karnataka were used to impersonate "applicants", he added.

"Entire families were targeted for deletion of votes without their knowledge. A case was registered, and the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) began the investigation," Siddaramaiah said.

"For 18 months, the Karnataka CID has repeatedly asked the Election Commission for technical details -- destination IPs, device ports, OTP trails -- which are essential to identify where this operation was run from and who was behind it," he added.

"The Election Commission of India (ECI) has refused to share this data. Today, instead of addressing these specific demands, the Commission brushed aside the charges as "incorrect and baseless", claiming no vote deletions can happen without due process. But the hard questions remain unanswered: why has crucial digital evidence been withheld, despite 18 reminders?" the Chief Minister asked.

"The evidence presented by 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," he underlined.

"Similar operations have been uncovered in Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh -- and earlier in Bengaluru Central's Mahadevapura Assembly constituency, where large-scale irregularities in electoral rolls came to light," he emphasised.

"This raises serious questions: Was Aland (Karnataka) only the tip of the iceberg? In 2018, BJP won this Assembly seat narrowly. In 2023, nearly 6,000 deletions were attempted. In 2024, BJP again won on this seat. How many such manipulations have gone undetected in other constituencies? How many results were influenced?" CM Siddaramaiah asked.

"The truth is simple: BJP attempts Vote Chori, and the Election Commission is blocking the investigation. By refusing to share data, the ECI is protecting the guilty instead of protecting democracy," he alleged.

"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," CM Siddaramaiah said.

"I want to tell the people of Karnataka and the youth of India: This is about the sanctity of your vote and your future. Congress will not allow the Vote Chori to succeed. We will continue this fight until accountability is fixed and democracy is safeguarded," he added.

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