A probe into the allegations, carried out by the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department, stalled as the Election Commission of India reportedly did not share the technical data sought to identify the culprits.
Published Sep 18, 2025 | 8:34 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 18, 2025 | 8:34 PM
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah
Synopsis: The Karnataka government is likely to form a Special Investigation Team under senior IPS officer BK Singh to probe allegations of mass voter deletions in the Aland Assembly, following fresh claims made by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, South First has learned. The case, first flagged by Congress MLA BR Patil ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, stalled after the Election Commission reportedly refused to provide technical data to the Karnataka CID.
The ruling Congress in Karnataka is likely to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under senior IPS officer BK Singh to investigate allegations of mass voter deletions in the Aland Assembly, raised by Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, sources in the Chief Minister’s Office told South First.
Congress MLA BR Patil had first flagged the alleged voter fraud in Aland constituency, Kalaburagi district, ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.
A probe into the allegations, carried out by the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID), stalled as the Election Commission of India (ECI) reportedly did not share the technical data sought to identify the culprits.
On Thursday, 18 September, Rahul Gandhi alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was aiding vote theft by protecting “the murderers of democracy,” and presented purported evidence from the Aland constituency.
Later in the day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to X to accuse the ECI of shielding those undermining democracy.
“The revelations made today by the Leader of Opposition, Shri 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,” he wrote in a post on X.
The revelations made today by the Leader of Opposition, Shri @RahulGandhi 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… pic.twitter.com/IxktntGcZP
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 18, 2025
Siddaramaiah warned that the Aland case could be part of a wider pattern of electoral manipulation:
“Evidence presented by Shri Rahul Gandhi shows this was no local mischief. Software was used to impersonate the first voter in each booth, fake numbers were inserted, and deletions were concentrated in Congress strongholds. Similar operations have been uncovered in Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh – and earlier in Bengaluru Central’s Mahadevapura constituency, where large-scale irregularities in voter rolls came to light,” he wrote.
“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?”
The Chief Minister further detailed the scale of the alleged manipulations:
“Between February 2022 and February 2023, 6,018 Form 7 applications were filed through Election Commission apps to delete names from the voters’ list of Aland Assembly Constituency. On inquiry, only 24 were genuine; 5,994 were fraudulent. Stolen voter details, fake logins, and mobile numbers from outside Karnataka were used to impersonate ‘applicants’. Entire families were targeted for deletion without their knowledge. A case was registered, and the CID began investigation.”
He said that the Karnataka CID had repeatedly sought technical data from the ECI to trace the source of the deletions, but had been refused. Siddaramaiah called for immediate action from the ECI:
“For 18 months, the Karnataka CID has repeatedly asked the Election Commission for technical details – destination IPs, device ports, OTP trails – which are essential to identify where this operation was run from and who was behind it. ECI has refused to share this data. Today, instead of addressing these specific demands, the ECI brushed aside the charges as ‘incorrect and baseless’, claiming no deletions can happen without due process,” he said.
“The truth is simple: BJP attempts Vote Chori, and the Election Commission is blocking the investigation. By refusing to share data, the ECI is protecting the guilty instead of protecting democracy. On behalf of the people of Karnataka, I demand that the Election Commission immediately hand over all technical details – IP logs, device ports and OTP trails – to the CID within one week. If the Commission fails to do so, it will stand exposed as complicit in shielding those who are destroying democracy.”
Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC President DK Shivakumar similarly, alleged that the voter deletions were not isolated to Aland and pointed to a nationwide pattern.
“The ECI is not cooperating with the investigation team [CID]. Whatever Rahul Gandhi said is not 100 percent, it is 200 percent right. This is going on in the entire country. We want ECI to work very independently,” he said, speaking to the media.
“They are working in a political angle. Even in Karnataka, they are asking us the information. We are ready to cooperate with them, whatever is there from the government side. But they should also give us information on that issue.”
All Indian Congress Committee President Mallikarjun Kharge further alleged voter deletions were a deliberate attempt to undermine democracy.
CID probing the Aland AC voter deletion case, wrote 18 letters to @ECISVEEP in 18 months, but ECI has stone-walled critical information necessary to track the culprits.
Armed with concrete proof, Shri @RahulGandhi has thoroughly exposed the mass vote deletion in Aland Assembly… pic.twitter.com/J0tfYfKRbx
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) September 18, 2025
“CID probing the Aland AC voter deletion case, wrote 18 letters to ECI. In 18 months, but ECI has stone-walled critical information necessary to track the culprits. Armed with concrete proof, Shri Rahul Gandhi has thoroughly exposed the mass vote deletion in Aland Assembly in Karnataka,” he wrote in a post on X.
“This leads to 3 important questions: Who is the ECI shielding? Is BJP hollowing out the very Institutions meant to protect our Democracy? Can we afford a Democracy where the Electoral System is being dismantled by a #VoteChoriFactory?”
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
