Congress claims systematic voter deletions; Election Commission calls allegations baseless and incorrect.
The Congress government in Karnataka has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate alleged unauthorized attempts to delete the names of 6,018 voters from the electoral rolls in the Aland Assembly seat of Kalaburagi during the 2022-2023 period. This decision was made on Saturday, following allegations from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who asserted that a centralized software program was being misused to systematically remove names from voter lists across the state.
Gandhi specifically accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of shielding those involved in what he termed as “vote theft.” The controversy began to unfold in February 2023 when a case was lodged concerning the deletion of voters in Aland. In an official order released on Saturday, the state home department announced the constitution of the SIT, which will be led by Indian Police Service officer BK Singh, who oversees the Criminal Investigation Department’s Economic Offences and Special Investigation units.
The SIT has been tasked with investigating not only the case registered at the Aland Police Station but also any related incidents that may be reported at other police stations throughout the state. The first information report, filed on February 21, 2023, stemmed from a complaint by Kalaburagi Assistant Commissioner and Aland’s Returning Officer Mamatha Kumari. This complaint was prompted by former Congress MLA BR Patil’s allegations that 6,670 voters had been unlawfully removed from the electoral rolls at 256 polling booths in Aland.
Subsequent inquiries conducted by Election Commission officials revealed that applications had been submitted through various government online platforms seeking to delete 6,018 voters. Of these applications, only 24 were verified and approved according to established procedures, leading to the deletion of those names. A detailed examination of the remaining 5,994 applications indicated that they had been submitted by unidentified individuals with malicious intent, utilizing multiple mobile numbers. The original voters reportedly had no knowledge that their names were being fraudulently erased from the list.
Following the inquiry, Kumari filed the complaint, and in December 2023, the Criminal Investigation Department took over the investigation. On Thursday, Gandhi reiterated his assertion that the Congress party’s analysis of the Aland Assembly constituency indicated that an unknown entity had leveraged software to delete voter information in a centralized manner. He claimed that the deletions were executed using fake login IDs and phone numbers sourced from outside Karnataka.
While the exact number of voters removed from the electoral rolls remains uncertain, Gandhi highlighted that 6,018 applications had been submitted impersonating legitimate voters who had not authorized such requests. He noted that the top ten booths in Aland, which experienced the highest number of deletions, were strongholds of the Congress party. Gandhi alleged that the names used for the deletion applications corresponded to individuals listed first in the booth’s voter list, suggesting the use of automated software in this process.
Furthermore, Gandhi contended that the Chief Election Commissioner had failed to respond to 18 reminder letters sent by the Crime Investigation Department and the state’s election chief, which sought information regarding Internet Protocol addresses and other details to trace the origins of the voter deletion requests. He claimed this inaction implied that Kumar was protecting individuals involved in the alleged vote theft.
In response to these claims, the Election Commission labeled Gandhi’s allegations as “incorrect and baseless,” asserting that no deletions could be conducted online by any member of the public as suggested. They acknowledged that certain unsuccessful attempts had been made to delete electors in Aland, but emphasized that a first information report had been filed by the Election Commission itself to probe the matter. The Election Commission also noted that the Aland constituency had been won by a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in 2018 and a Congress nominee in 2023.
