Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 18 : Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah on Thursday came out strongly in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's fresh vote theft allegations and said that the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, once again exposed that "Indian democracy is being subverted through systematic and centralised attempts at Vote Chori".
In a post shared on X, Karnataka CM said, "The revelations made today by the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, have once again exposed how Indian democracy is being subverted through systematic and centralised attempts at Vote Chori. The Aland case in Kalaburagi is not an isolated incident but a window into a larger conspiracy to manipulate electoral rolls and deny citizens their right to vote."
https://x.com/siddaramaiah/status/1968627399614214555
"This raises serious questions: Was Aland only the tip of the iceberg? In 2018, BJP won the seat narrowly. In 2023, nearly 6,000 deletions were attempted. In 2024, BJP again led in this segment. How many such manipulations have gone undetected in other constituencies? How many results were influenced?" he added.
CM added that the Aland case in Kalaburagi is not an "isolated incident but a window into a larger conspiracy to manipulate electoral rolls and deny citizens their right to vote".
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka on Thursday responded to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's fresh claims of "vote chori" in Aland constituency, stating that the poll body had already rejected all incorrect applications and an FIR was filed in the matter in 2023.
The Karnataka CEO said in a statement that the ERO in Aland received 6,018 online applications through Form 7 in December 2022.
"Suspecting the genuineness of such a large number of applications submitted online for deletion of electors' names in 46-Aland LAC in Karnataka, verification of each application was conducted by ERO/AERO/BLOS," an official statement said.
Only 24 applications were found to be genuine, and another 5,994 were found to be incorrect. Accordingly, 24 applications were accepted, and 5,994 incorrect applications were rejected and not deleted, the statement added.
The statement has been issued in response to the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claims earlier today, in which he slammed the Election Commission of India for allegedly "not cooperating" with the voter fraud investigation opened up by the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (Karnataka CID) in the Aland assembly segment in the Kalaburagi district.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the "group of people" who are systematically targeting certain voters who vote for the Opposition parties, and who primarily belong to the OBC, Dalit, and marginalised communities.