Karnataka Voter Deletion Scandal: Investigation Reveals Paid Operation to Remove Thousands from Electoral Rolls

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleged widespread voter deletion prior to the 2023 Karnataka Assembly election.

New Delhi:

In mid-September, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi issued a stern warning, supported by detailed PowerPoint presentations, regarding the mass deletion of voters before both the Karnataka Assembly election in 2023 and last year's general election.

The Election Commission and Bharatiya Janata Party, accused of collaborating in voter fraud, dismissed these allegations as "baseless."

Nine weeks later, police sources have revealed to NDTV a potential breakthrough in the investigation.

According to these sources, a data entry team may have received financial compensation—amounting to several lakh rupees—to remove specific voters from electoral rolls. At least six individuals were reportedly involved in this operation.

Sources informed news agency PTI that Rs 80 was paid for each successfully deleted voter, with requests to remove nearly 7,000 voters from the rolls before the 2023 state election.

A senior police official told PTI, "Attempts were made in Aland to delete votes. We questioned about 30 people and, of them, five or six are strong suspects. They can be arrested."

All six suspects were connected to the data center and utilized VoIP (voice over internet protocol) calls to facilitate voter deletions. Law enforcement conducted raids on their residences and associated locations, seizing electronic devices which have since been sent to forensic laboratories for data extraction.

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge responded forcefully to these developments on social media platform X, stating: "The latest findings confirm what we've been saying all along... over 6,000 genuine voters were struck off the rolls through a paid operation ahead of the 2023 elections in Aland. A full-fledged data centre was operating out of Kalaburagi, where operators were systematically deleting voters' names..."

Perhaps the most significant development was the discovery of hundreds of burnt voter records near former BJP lawmaker Subhash Guttedar's residence in the district last week. Guttedar claimed that housekeeping staff had burned "waste material" and insisted the incinerated papers were not important.

"There was no mala fide intention behind burning these documents. If we had ulterior motives, we would have done it somewhere away from our house," the BJP leader stated.

Aland is located in Kalaburagi in northern Karnataka and represents the home territory of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, as well as senior MLA BR Patil, who represents the constituency in the Assembly.

'Vote chori' concerns emerged after Patil and Kharge's son, Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge, claimed evidence of vote-deletion attempts and formally communicated with the state's Chief Electoral Officer.

Patil alleged that fraudulent applications were submitted to delete 6,994 votes from marginalized and oppressed communities, groups that traditionally support the Congress party.

Last month, Rahul Gandhi—who has been actively pursuing the 'vote chori' issue against the BJP ahead of November's Bihar election—presented videos and data supporting his allegations.

One video clip demonstrated how, at 4 am on December 19, 2022, someone had opened, completed, and submitted forms to delete two voter names within just 36 seconds.

The following day, Karnataka's Congress government established a special investigation team to handle the case.

Meanwhile, the 'vote chori' campaign has become central to the opposition's strategy for next month's Bihar election. The Congress leader and Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav—recently confirmed as the chief ministerial candidate—have conducted 'voter adhikar' rallies to mobilize support.