Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha on Thursday launched another attack on Election Commission of India by showing what he called solod proof on alleged “vote chori”, accusing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of shielding those he claimed had “destroyed Indian democracy.”
Speaking at a press conference at the Indira Bhawan Auditorium, the leader of opposition cited Aland constituency in Karnataka, where he alleged that a “targeted” attempt was made to delete 6,018 votes. The Congress leader claimed that 6,018 applications were filed impersonating voters and this filing was done automatically using mobile numbers from outside Karnataka.
The Election Commission of India responded with a five-point rebuttal with point number 4 admitting to ‘unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in Aland Assembly Constituency.’
“In 2023, certain unsuccessful attempts were made for deletion of electors in Aland Assembly Constituency and an FIR was filed by the authority of ECI itself to investigate the matter,” the poll panel said.
What happened in February 2023 in Aland seat?
So, by EC’s admission, there were attempts for deletion of voters in the said assembly seat in 2023. What had actually happened then?
Well, the case came to light way back in February 2023, when senior Congress leader and then Aland candidate BR Patil was alerted about several applications being filed for voter deletions in his constituency, without the knowledge of the voters. Patil, filed a complaint with the poll panel.
“One of the Booth Level Officers [BLOs] received a Form 7 application to delete her brother’s vote, when he had not even applied. Her brother was my supporter. The application was made in the name of another voter in the same village, who was also not aware of it. This tipped us off,” Patil told the Hindu newspaper.
Patil had from Aland seat by a narrow margin of 697 votes against a BJP candidate in 2018 assembly polls. He however retained the seat in 2023 Karnataka assembly election which saw Congress party storming back to power in the state.
A number of voters whose names were sought to be deleted and those whose credentials were misused to make the Form 7 applications, objecting to inclusion of names/seeking deletion of voters, had filed complaints with the Aland Tehsildar then.
Mamata Devi, Returning Officer, Aland, and then Assistant Commissioner, Kalaburagi, in her complaint to the Aland Police on February 21, 2023, said of the 6,018 cases, only 24 applications were genuine and were made because the voters had moved out the constituency, the Hindu said in its report earlier this month. An FIR (26/2023 Aland PS) was registered against unknown persons for forgery, impersonation and providing false documents.
Eventually, these 5,994 voter names (of the 6,018 case flagged) were not deleted and they could vote in the 2023 election, but the investigation into the case is on.
The case was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police, where after a probe spanning two-and-a-half years, the trail seems to have gone cold. Rahul Gandhi in his Thursday presser said that the Karnataka CID had written to ECI several times seeking details about the voter deletion attempts.
The Hindu report quoting sources said that in September 2023, the ECI shared data for over 5,700 forged Form 7s. While there were enough data regarding over 4,400 applications, the rest had incomplete data. The ECI also provided the mobile numbers used to create login IDs and passwords on the ECI’s three apps, through which all forged Form 7s were submitted, apart from the IP logs, the Hindu said.
Kharge flagged the issue earlier
On 7 September, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the poll panel of having “stonewalled crucial information,” which he claimed was effectively shielding those behind alleged “vote chori.”
Why has the ECI suddenly blocked vital evidence? Who is it protecting?
Kharge shared The Hindu’s report about the issue on X and alleged while ECI had earlier shared part of the documents needed to trace the forgery, it has now stonewalled the crucial information — effectively shielding those behind the Vote Chori!
“Why has the ECI suddenly blocked vital evidence. Who is it protecting? The BJP’s Vote Chori department? Is the ECI bending under the BJP pressure to derail the CID probe?” the Congress chief said. “Individual’s right to vote needs to be protected,” Kharge said.
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