The issue first came to light in February 2023 after Patil was tipped off regarding several applications being filed for voter deletions in his constituency, without the knowledge of the voters.
Published Sep 09, 2025 | 10:53 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 09, 2025 | 10:53 AM
BR Patil.
Synopsis: Karnataka MLA BR Patil is waiting for instructions from the Congress high command before moving the Supreme Court regarding the ECI’s alleged complacency in investigating voter fraud in the Aland Assembly constituency. A recent report had detailed how the ECI has stonewalled repeated requests from the Karnataka CID seeking digital evidence in connection with its probe into the alleged fraud.
Karnataka MLA BR Patil is waiting for instructions from the Congress high command before moving the Supreme Court regarding the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) alleged complacency in investigating an alleged voter fraud in the Aland Assembly constituency.
In 2023, Patil, who was also the then constituency candidate, filed a complaint with the ECI regarding several fraudulent applications that were submitted for removing 5,994 names from the electoral rolls in Aland constituency ahead of the Assembly elections that year.
A recent report by The Hindu detailed how the ECI has stonewalled repeated requests from the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) seeking digital evidence in connection with its probe into the alleged fraud.
“I have been fighting this battle alone for the last two years. I have sent multiple letters to election officials but have had no success,” Patil told South First. Even though Patil has decided to escalate the matter to the Supreme Court, he said he would follow the high command’s direction before making the move.
On Sunday, 7 September, several Karnataka Congress leaders questioned the poll body, especially regarding crucial information regarding alleged forged applications, including the “IP logs, date and time, when they were filed, along with destination IPs and destination ports.
These allegations of stonewalling came a month after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged that there were over one lakh fake voters in the Mahadevapura assembly seat in Karnataka.
Since then, the party stepped up its attack on the BJP and ECI. Recently, during the conclusion of the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, Gandhi warned that the Congress will soon have a “hydrogen bomb” like expose on the alleged “vote chori” (vote theft).
The issue first came to light in February 2023 after Patil was tipped off regarding several applications being filed for voter deletions in his constituency, without the knowledge of the voters.
In 2023, Returning Officer Mamata Kumari, the then-Kalaburagi Assistant Commissioner, filed a complaint with the Aland Police alleging that there was an attempt to delete 5,994 voters from the list, even though they still lived in the same addresses.
Eventually, the 5,994 voter names were not deleted, and Patil went on to win the election. The Congress government ordered a CID probe to catch the culprits. However, the case has made little progress.
Patil alleged that although the ECI is responsible for appointing Returning Officers, the poll body is not “waking up” to the issues raised by them. “Their own subordinates have raised concerns about the attempt to delete voters, yet the EC has not acted swiftly on the complaint,” Patil told South First.
Meanwhile, responding to The Hindu’s report, several party leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, launched a fresh attack on the poll body, demanding that it furnish the required information to complete the investigation.
“Why is the ECI shielding those who attempted this fraud? Why are ‘Destination IPs and Ports’, key to track the origin of this operation, being withheld? Why no answers on weak OTP verification in ECI’s own apps?” Siddaramaiah asked in a post on X on Sunday.
He further asked whether ECI was an independent guardian of democracy or was it acting as BJP’s “back-office” to legitimise vote theft.
In Aland, a systematic conspiracy to steal democracy was exposed in 2023 when 5,994 forged Form-7s were filed to delete genuine voters, mostly Congress supporters.
Thanks to timely intervention, these votes were saved. But the CID probe has now hit a wall because the Election…
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 7, 2025
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge made similar claims, alleging that by withholding crucial information required for an investigation, the EC was effectively shielding those behind the alleged “vote chori.”
He explained that although the ECI had earlier shared part of the documents needed for the probe, it has left out several crucial pieces of information. “Why has the ECI suddenly blocked vital evidence?” he asked in a post on X.
Kharge also questioned whether the ECI was bending under the BJP’s pressure to derail the CID probe.
Is the Election Commission of India (ECI) now BJP’s Back-Office for #VoteChori?
🗳️Understand the chronology
🔹Ahead of the May 2023 Karnataka elections, Congress had exposed massive deletion of voters: in Aland Constituency
🔹Thousands of voters were stripped of their rights… pic.twitter.com/HZ5Qs1XFfs
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) September 7, 2025
Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal alleged that the ECI was “hand in glove” with the BJP in the “daylight robbery of votes”.
“For the ECI to withhold evidence is against their Constitutional responsibility of ensuring free and fair elections. They must ensure full transparency and stop acting like an agent of the BJP,” Venugopal said in a post on X.
The ECI blocking crucial documents in the Karnataka CID investigation on fraudulent voter deletion in Aland constituency once again proves their culpability in hiding crucial evidence that proves mass scale vote rigging.
The Karnataka Govt has been conducting its investigation… pic.twitter.com/7a4PltCIaD
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) September 7, 2025
The ECI is yet to respond to these claims.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
