E-Paper
'Incorrect applications were rejected, FIR filed': Karnataka CEO on Rahul Gandhi's Aland 'vote chori' claims
According to the statement by the Karnataka CEO, the ERO in Aland received 6,018 Form 7 applications, which were submitted online using various apps.
The Chief Election Officer (CEO) of Karnataka responded to allegations of voter deletions made by Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, saying that all the incorrect applications were rejected, and an FIR was filed in the matter in 2023.
According to the statement by the Karnataka CEO, the ERO in Aland received 6,018 Form 7 applications during December 2022, which were submitted online using various apps such as NVSP, VHA, and GARUDA. Suspecting the genuineness of such a large number of applications submitted online for the deletion of electors' names in the Aland assembly constituency, each application was verified.
“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 read.
The Karnataka CEO further said that the ERO lodged an FIR with the Inspector of Police, Aland Police Station in Kalaburagi district, based on the inquiry findings in February 2023.
“Based on the instructions given by ECI, the CEO, Karnataka, has handed over to the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi district, on 06.09.2023, all the available information with ECI for completing the investigation,” the statement added.
What did Rahul Gandhi allege?
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed he had uncovered a massive voter deletion scam targeting millions across India. However, he stopped short of dropping the promised “hydrogen bomb” of evidence on his “vote chori” (theft) allegations, saying preparations were underway for that. Rahul Gandhi gave chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar a one-week deadline to respond to his allegations.
Gandhi cited the example of the Aland constituency in Karnataka to claim that someone tried to delete 6,018 votes during the 2023 assembly elections. “We don't know the total number of votes that were deleted in Aland… It is much higher than 6,018. But somebody got caught. And it was caught like most crimes, by a coincidence,” Rahul Gandhi alleged.
Alleging that these deletion attempts were specifically targeting booths where the Congress party was winning, Rahul Gandhi cited an example of a woman named ‘Godabai’. Rahul Gandhi claimed someone created fake logins in Godabai's name and attempted to delete 12 voters.
“Godabai has no idea,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The Election Commission of India dismissed Gandhi's allegations as “incorrect and baseless”. In a strongly worded response, the poll body said: “Allegations made by Shri Rahul Gandhi are incorrect and baseless. No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Shri Rahul Gandhi.”
