By Muhammed Fazil,South First Desk

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‘Half-truth’: Congress on Karnataka CEO’s claim of giving voter deletion data to CID in 2023

Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said that the ECI has not responded regarding the information sought by the CID probing the case.

Synopsis: The Congress in Karnataka responded to a release by Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer by saying that the poll body “conveniently tells a half-truth”. According to the Congress-led state government, the EC has not replied to the letters sent by the CID regarding the data regarding voter deletions.

The Congress in Karnataka on Friday, 19 September, responded to a release by Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) regarding the voter deletion allegation by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, by saying that the poll body “conveniently tells a half-truth”.

On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that several thousand voter names were deleted in the Aland constituency ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections and that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was not handing over the data regarding the applications since it was shielding the perpetrators.

Responding to the allegation, the CEO said an FIR was filed in the matter in 2023 and added that applications were thoroughly reviewed.

However, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge and Aland MLA BR Patil, in a press conference, said that the ECI has not responded regarding the information sought by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probing the case.

Also Read: Karnataka CEO responds to Rahul Gandhi’s Aland ‘vote chori’ allegations

‘Raised allegations with proof’

Stressing that the Congress made the allegations with proof, Kharge said, “Be it Mahadevapura, Aland or in Maharashtra, we have made the claims by placing documents in front of them. Instead of investigating these allegations, you are intimidating us.”

“Whose responsibility is it to maintain a healthy voter list? The Election Commission. What the ECI and the CEO of Karnataka said yesterday (Thursday) is false. We have placed the documents in front of you all. The ECI must respond. The CEO of Karnataka, we want to know why he has provided wrong information,” Kharge said.

Meanwhile, BR Patil has requested the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the issue. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is expected to decide on Friday or Saturday.

Responding to the CEO’s claim that only 24 application were found genuine, Kharge said, ” BR Patil did not complain about 5,994 votes being fake or 24 being genuine. It was the finding of the RO (Returning Officer). BR Patil’s complaint is extremely crystal clear: Saying 6,000 odd people or 7,250 people — without their knowledge — were added to the list of deletion. That itself is a crime. The process should be monitored by the ECI not by the candidate.”

“How does individuals get access to delete your name, my name, his name, on one mobile number from somewhere sitting in UP or Gujarat. If we had not detected this fraud, what would have happened? ECI is responsible to give us a healthy voter list. Process is faulty. When people are forging From 7, when anybody can come and tell me whether I am a voter or not, how is that possible?” he questioned.

“Injustice did not take place and why? This is because the candidate was highly vigilant. Two kinds of vote chori here. One is addition and the other is deletion. Addition, who are going to vote for you. Deletion, who might not vote for you,” Kharge added.

Counters ECI response

Responding to the ECI’s statement that deletion of a vote cannot be done online by any member of the public, the Congress said,” Rahul Gandhi did not say votes can be deleted online. But applications to delete votes can be and were made online. These Form 7s were forged, the Returning Officer has said in her complaint to the police. These forged applications were rejected.”

“The forged Form 7s of 5994 voters were rejected, so the votes were saved. BR Patil winning the elections doesn’t mean the criminal attempt to delete these votes shouldn’t be investigated,” it added.

Further, responding to the Karnataka CEO’s claim of investigation, the Congress said: “This gives the impression that EC initiated the inquiry on its own. BR Patil and Priyank Kharge complained to the CEO of Karnataka in February 2023, and only then did the inquiry begin based on this complaint.”

“Mamata Kumari, RO, Aland, in her complaint to the Polic,e makes this very clear. ‘Former MLA BR Patil, complained to the ECI that in 256 booths of the Aland Assembly constituency, 6,670 votes were illegally deleted, based on which ECI directed and issued oral orders by the Deputy Commissioner, Kalaburagi district, that I should examine the complaint,” the FIR clearly says,” the party said.

Denying the CEO’s claim that all data regarding the applications was handed over to the Kalaburagi SP, the Congress said,” EC has indeed provided the details, as the CEO, Karnataka, has said, on 6 September 2023. But the IPs provided were dynamic IPs, using which the geolocation of devices used to make these forged Form 7s is difficult.”

“So CID has, from January 2024 to date, written 18 letters asking for Destination IPs and Destination Ports of the sessions through which these forged Form 7s were made,” the party added.

“During the course of the investigation, the IP Logs are provided. On perusal, the Destination IP and Destination Port are missing. Therefore, it is requested to direct the concerned to provide the same. Also provide the information/document related to below mentioned queries,” CID has written in these letters.

However, according to the Congress-led state government, the EC has not replied to these letters to date.

Also Read: CEC Gyanesh Kumar is protecting ‘murderers of democracy’, alleges Rahul Gandhi

Questions claims of CEO

The Congress further alleged that the CEO conveniently tells a half-truth that all information was given in September 2023. “He doesn’t even refer to the 18 letters from the CID which were sent later,” the Congress said.

“Despite 18 letters seeking Destination IPs and Destination Ports and a demo of how the three ECI apps work on their authentication, there has been no response at all. It is false that the CEO, Karnataka, has been providing any other assistance/information/documents to the investigating agency,” the party added.

Questioning an 8.8 percent corretion in the voters list of Mahadevapura, where the Congress alleged faulty additions of voters, Kharge said: “I can understand if there is a faulty voter list with minimum corrections, but it was 8.8 perceent in Mahadevapura. What does the ECI manual say? If there is anything more than four percent, requires physical verification. Did it happen in Mahadevapuru? And wherever there is large-scale deletion, there should be physical verification. Where did it happen?”

“If my candidate had not gone and complained, this would not have come to light Our accusation is that there were issues in the voter list in the past, but the current scale indicate that it is deliberate. It was designed to target the areas where there would be more voters favouring BR Patil,” he added.

“We are weighing all our options. What are the options we have as a political party or as an individual? I write, write, and write, they don’t respond. Then we will have to take the legal routw. We will do it when the time comes,” Kharge said.

Referring to a letter to the ECI, Kharge questioned the CEO on why he had sent the letter if he had given all the information. “Why are you writing a letter to the ECI? This is not BR Patil, nor Rahul Gandhi nor the Congress party. It is the letter of the State EC to the ECI.”

In a letter dated 14 March 2025, the Karnataka CEO wrote to the Principal Secretary of the ECI, requesting that the details sought by the CID regarding the investigation into attempts to delete voters in Aland be provided.

(Edited by Muhammed Fazil with inputs from Nolan Patrick Pinto.)