<p class="bodytext">Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has evidence to prove his claim that “vote theft” took place during Lok Sabha polls last year, while Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said irregularities dated back to the 2023 Assembly polls.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rahul, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, is scheduled to anchor a protest meeting at Freedom Park on August 5. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“Rahul Gandhi has evidence. He is coming here to protest and to meet the Election Commission officials in Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah said.</p>.Congress' fall helps BJP ally & Conrad Sangma-led NPP retain control in Meghalaya .<p class="bodytext">Shivakumar said Rahul had done research on “vote theft”. He said Rahul is visiting Bengaluru not for political reasons, but to “educate” citizens. “We (Congress) might have lost or won elections, but we want to save democracy. We don’t want the Election Commission to be part of a political process,” he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Responding to opposition BJP’s question on why Congress did not file appeals if there were anomalies in the voter lists, Shivakumar said his party’s pleas were not accepted by the Election Commission.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Shivakumar, who is also Karnataka Congress president, cited two instance of voter additions during the 2023 Assembly polls. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“In Mahadevapura, my candidate H Nagesh and his son came to me with proof, but we couldn’t get the names deleted. In Gandhinagar, (health minister) Dinesh Gundu Rao did research. In just one ward, over 7,000 votes were included,” Shivakumar said. “We have so many examples. We have documents to prove all this, but I don’t want to disclose them.” </p>.<p class="bodytext">Dinesh won from Gandhinagar by just 105 votes against BJP. In Mahadevapura, the BJP won by 44,501. </p>
<p class="bodytext">Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has evidence to prove his claim that “vote theft” took place during Lok Sabha polls last year, while Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said irregularities dated back to the 2023 Assembly polls.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rahul, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, is scheduled to anchor a protest meeting at Freedom Park on August 5. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“Rahul Gandhi has evidence. He is coming here to protest and to meet the Election Commission officials in Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah said.</p>.Congress' fall helps BJP ally & Conrad Sangma-led NPP retain control in Meghalaya .<p class="bodytext">Shivakumar said Rahul had done research on “vote theft”. He said Rahul is visiting Bengaluru not for political reasons, but to “educate” citizens. “We (Congress) might have lost or won elections, but we want to save democracy. We don’t want the Election Commission to be part of a political process,” he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Responding to opposition BJP’s question on why Congress did not file appeals if there were anomalies in the voter lists, Shivakumar said his party’s pleas were not accepted by the Election Commission.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Shivakumar, who is also Karnataka Congress president, cited two instance of voter additions during the 2023 Assembly polls. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“In Mahadevapura, my candidate H Nagesh and his son came to me with proof, but we couldn’t get the names deleted. In Gandhinagar, (health minister) Dinesh Gundu Rao did research. In just one ward, over 7,000 votes were included,” Shivakumar said. “We have so many examples. We have documents to prove all this, but I don’t want to disclose them.” </p>.<p class="bodytext">Dinesh won from Gandhinagar by just 105 votes against BJP. In Mahadevapura, the BJP won by 44,501. </p>
