The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha has intensified criticism of the Election Commission of India (ECI), presenting what he describes as conclusive evidence of alleged “vote chori.” He accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of protecting individuals he believes are undermining Indian democracy.
During a press conference held at Indira Bhawan Auditorium, the opposition leader cited an incident from the Aland constituency in Karnataka, alleging a deliberate attempt to delete 6,018 votes. He claimed that these deletions were facilitated by the submission of applications impersonating voters, a process allegedly executed automatically using mobile numbers sourced from outside Karnataka.
In response, the ECI issued a five-point rebuttal, with one point acknowledging that “unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in the Aland Assembly Constituency.” The commission added that an FIR was filed by its authority to investigate the matter.
The events in question date back to February 2023, when senior Congress leader and Aland candidate BR Patil became aware of numerous applications filed for voter deletions in his constituency without voters’ consent. Patil subsequently filed a complaint with the ECI.
Patil recounted an instance where a Booth Level Officer received a Form 7 application to delete a vote belonging to her brother, who had not submitted any such request. This alerted Patil to the suspicious activity, as the application was made in the name of another, unaware voter from the same village.
In the 2018 assembly elections, Patil lost to a BJP candidate by a narrow margin of 697 votes but was successful in retaining his seat in the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections, which saw the Congress party reclaim power in the state. Numerous voters affected by the deletion attempts have filed complaints with the Aland Tehsildar.
Mamata Devi, the returning officer for Aland and former Assistant Commissioner in Kalaburagi, stated in a complaint to the Aland Police on February 21, 2023, that of the 6,018 applications, only 24 were legitimate, made as the voters had moved out of the area. An FIR (26/2023 Aland PS) was subsequently registered against unidentified individuals for forgery, impersonation, and submitting false documents.
Ultimately, the remaining 5,994 voters flagged in the deletion attempts were not removed from the rolls and were able to vote in the 2023 elections, though investigations surrounding the case are ongoing. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Karnataka Police has taken over the investigation; however, the case appears to have stagnated.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi remarked that the Karnataka CID had repeatedly sought information from the ECI regarding the voter deletion attempts. A report from The Hindu indicated that in September 2023, the ECI provided data on over 5,700 forged Form 7 submissions. While there was substantial information regarding over 4,400 applications, the remaining submissions had incomplete data. The ECI also shared the mobile numbers used for creating login IDs and passwords on its various applications used to submit the fraudulent forms.
On September 7, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had previously accused the ECI of withholding vital information related to the investigation, thereby allegedly shielding those behind the “vote chori.”
Kharge highlighted the issue in a post on X, claiming that while the ECI had earlier shared some pertinent documents, it has since concealed crucial evidence, thus protecting those responsible for the alleged voter fraud. He questioned, “Why has the ECI suddenly blocked vital evidence? Who is it protecting? The BJP’s Vote Chori department? Is the ECI bending under BJP pressure to derail the CID probe?” He asserted the need to safeguard individuals’ rights to vote.
