Karnataka Congress leaders say Aland case part of larger conspiracy to manipulate electoral rolls; BJP terms it a 'ploy'

Rahul Gandhi has exposed how democracy is being subverted through systematic and centralised attempts, says Siddaramaiah; Vijayendra calls it an 'attack on the Election Commission and an insult to people’s mandate'

Karnataka Congress leaders have said the revelations on "vote theft" made by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday exposed how democracy was being subverted through systematic and centralised attempts.

The BJP, meanwhile, termed it "a Congress ploy to attack the Election Commission and an insult the people’s mandate".  

In a post on X, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Aland case in Kalaburagi was not an isolated incident but a window to a larger conspiracy to manipulate electoral rolls and deny citizens their right to vote.

He said that between February 2022 and February 2023, 6,018 Form 7 applications were filed through the Election Commission apps to delete names from the voters’ list of the Aland Assembly constituency. On inquiry, only 24 were genuine and 5,994 were fraudulent. Stolen voter details, fake logins, and mobile numbers from outside Karnataka were used to impersonate “applicants”, he said. Entire families were targeted for deletion without their knowledge. A case was registered, and the CID began an investigation, the Chief Minister said.

He said the Election Commission of India, however, refused to share the technical data repeatedly sought by the CID, which was essential to identify where this operation was run from and who was behind it.

The Chief Minister demanded that the Election Commission hand over all technical details to the CID within a week.

He said that instead of addressing these specific demands, the Election Commission brushed aside the charges as “incorrect and baseless”.

Siddaramaiah sought to know from the Election Commission why the crucial digital evidence had been withheld despite 18 reminders."By refusing to share data, the ECI is protecting the guilty instead of protecting democracy," he said.

He said the evidence presented by Gandhi showed this was no local mischief. Similar operations had been uncovered in Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and earlier in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Bengaluru, where large-scale irregularities in voter rolls came to light.

The Chief Minister sought to know if Aland was only the tip of the iceberg? "In 2018, the BJP won the seat narrowly. In 2023, nearly 6,000 deletions were attempted. In 2024, the BJP again led in this segment. How many such manipulations have gone undetected in other constituencies? How many results were influenced?"  

He said the truth is, "The BJP attempts vote chori, and the Election Commission is blocking the investigation."

People of India deserve transparency: Shivakumar

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, meanwhile, said evidence from Aland shows how software and outside interference were used to delete legitimate votes, specifically in booths where the Congress was strong. "This was a deliberate and planned effort to silence the voice of the people," he said in a post on X. "The people of India deserve transparency and fairness, not hidden operations that target voters and undermine democracy," he said

A ploy to attack Election Commission: BJP

State Bharatiya Janata Party president B Y Vijayendra, meanwhile, termed Gandhi’s press conference a ploy to attack the Election Commission and insult the people’s mandate. 

Stating that between the 2018 and 2023 elections, the BJP's vote share in the Aland constituency dipped from 47.83 per cent to 45.34 per cent, while that of the Congress rose from 47.39 per cent to 51.27 per cent, Vijayendra said the people of Aland gave their mandate to the Congress and the BJP accepted it. "But the Congress, blinded by entitlement after repeated electoral defeats, refuses to believe people can reject them. That is why Rahul Gandhi invents conspiracy theories and cries 'vote chori',” he said in a post on X. 
"If Congress genuinely believes there is an issue, let them submit an affidavit with their 'evidence' to the Election Commission or go to court," Vijayendra said.