K'taka CM Siddaramaiah Announces SIT Probe Into 'Vote Theft' In Aland Assembly Segment

(MENAFN- IANS) Bengaluru, Sep 20 (IANS) The Karnataka government has announced that the 'Vote Chori' allegations in connection with the Aland Assembly segment raised by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will be probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah made a statement in this regard while answering a question in this regard at Gadag city on Saturday.“Rahul Gandhi has pointed out that about 6,000 names of voters were deleted in the Aland constituency, and this is true. An SIT probe will be conducted into the voter fraud case in Aland,” Siddaramaiah said, answering a question on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegations regarding voter fraud.

The development is likely to trigger a row.

Criticising the Election Commission of India's (ECI) clarifications and denial of charges regarding 'vote chori' by the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, Minister for RDPR, IT and BT Priyank Kharge and Aland MLA B.R. Patil, in a joint press conference dubbed the claims by ECI as a complete lie.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Friday, Minister Priyank Kharge stated, "After Rahul Gandhi's press conference, the Election Commission is now speaking as if it was they who discovered and stopped voter fraud. They are claiming that they themselves halted the deletion of voters from the electoral rolls. This is a complete lie."

Congress MLA from Aland, B.R. Patil, had stated, "I congratulate Rahul Gandhi for bringing the Aland voter fraud issue to national attention, and also thank Priyank Kharge for standing in support of me."

"Before the 2023 Assembly elections, one Vijay Kumar from Kamanalli village in my constituency called me, saying that a request had been filed to remove his name from the voters' list. When the BLO came and asked him, he clarified that he had not submitted any application. Soon, many similar cases began coming to light.

Altogether, requests had been filed to delete the names of 6,018 voters who supported the Congress party. This shocked us. On Feb 10, 2023, I wrote to the Kalaburagi DC. On Feb 11, 2023, Priyank Kharge and I held a press conference. On Feb 13, 2023, I lodged a complaint with the Aland Tahsildar. On Feb 20, 2023, Priyank Kharge, Ramesh Babu, and I submitted a complaint to former Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena," MLA Patil stated.

“When we approached the State Election Commission, the matter was widely reported in the media. The Commission, after considering our allegations, said our claims were true and directed that the status quo be maintained. Later, the Aland election officer himself lodged a police complaint about fake applications being submitted for voter deletions, and demanded action against those responsible. The current investigation stems from that complaint,” he recalled.

"Initially, the probe was handed to the Aland Dy SP, but due to lack of cooperation, it stalled. Later, it was given to the Kalaburagi Additional SP, who also reported lack of cooperation and inability to proceed. I then wrote to Home Minister G. Parameshwara, requesting that the case be handed to the CID. He transferred the probe to CID. I have inquired about the investigation about 10 times, but CID said they are not receiving cooperation from the Election Commission, leaving them helpless. Now they are considering transferring the case to the Cyber Crime division for internal investigation," MLA Patil stated.

The Congress MLA alleged, "In my constituency, 6,018 applications for deletions were filed, but even those in whose names the requests were filed had no knowledge of it, and neither did the voters whose names were to be deleted. It was a conspiracy to make me lose the election. BJP and the Election Commission together plotted this."

For example, in the name of a retired teacher, Suryakant, whose EPIC number was used, applications were filed to delete 12 voters. When those 12 confronted him, he denied filing any request. Similarly, Godhabai, who can hardly read or write, allegedly filed online requests to delete 12 voters in just 14 minutes. When calls were made to the mobile numbers used, they were traced to Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh, he stated.

"Now, the EC is claiming that those voters were not actually deleted. That is true-they were not deleted. But had we not remained vigilant, the deletions would have gone through, and I would have lost the election. If those votes had been deleted, I would have lost by around 1,500 votes. The Election Commission itself is hijacking democracy in this way. Rahul Gandhi is fighting this battle at the national level, and soon he will drop a“hydrogen bomb” on this issue," he stated.

For a fair investigation into this voter fraud case, the EC must provide all the information requested by the CID. But yesterday, the Joint CEO of Karnataka wrote to the Principal Secretary of the EC claiming that all records had been provided. This is a total lie. If all documents were provided, why did CID have to write 18 letters? None of these letters has been answered, he slammed.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, referring to 'Vote Chori' charges, alleged that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is not being targeted by the Election Commission; rather, he carries the“Emergency Mindset of Indira Gandhi”.

Poonawalla said Rahul Gandhi talks about vote theft, but he should also speak about the High Court disqualifying Karnataka Congress MLA K.Y. Nanjegowda recently. Rahul Gandhi should watch the videos of Shashi Tharoor and Kirti Azad, he challenged.

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