The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday issued a fresh response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'vote chori' claims, saying “no deletion of any vote can be done online”.
“Although an Elector of the constituency can fill Form 7 online to apply for deletion of an entry from that particular constituency, it does not mean that the entry gets automatically deleted merely by submitting the Form 7,” a statement of the Election Commission said.
The poll agency reiterated that 6,018 applications were submitted online for deletion in the Aland constituency of Karnataka, but only 24 were found to be genuine. It also said that the Electoral Officer of the Aland constituency filed an FIR in February 2023, and the investigation was handed over by the CEO of Karnataka to the Kalaburgi district SP.
EC also addressed claims about Rajaura, Chandrapur, in Maharashtra and said that the poll body received 7,792 deletion requests, out of which 6,861 requests were found invalid. An FIR was filed at the Rajaura police station.
What the Karnataka CEO said about Rahul Gandhi's claims on voter deletion in Aland
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.
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.
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.
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.