Shared All Information: Karnataka Poll Officer After Rahul Gandhi Allegations
The office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Thursday said all available information with the Election Commission of India (ECI), regarding alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in the state's Aland constituency.
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The Chief Electoral Officer's statement appears to be in response to Congress allegations (File)
Bengaluru:
On Thursday, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office stated that all information available with the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in Karnataka's Aland constituency prior to the 2023 assembly elections has already been provided to the Kalaburagi Superintendent of Police.
The office clarified that the FIR related to this case was filed by Electoral Registration Officers (ERO), who operate under ECI authority, and emphasized that the Karnataka CEO has been consistently providing all necessary assistance, information, and documents to the investigating agency.
This statement seems to address recent criticism from Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, who accused the Election Commission of protecting "vote chors" and demanded the provision of information requested by Karnataka CID within a week for their investigation into voter deletions.
"Following ECI instructions, the Karnataka CEO handed over all available information to the Kalaburagi district Superintendent of Police on 06.09.2023 to facilitate the completion of the investigation," according to a note from the CEO's office.
The statement detailed, "The information shared includes comprehensive Objector's details, such as Form Reference Number, Objector's name, EPIC number, mobile number used for login and processing, software application medium, IP address, applicant location, Form submission date and time, and user creation date." The note added that after providing this information, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer held meetings with the Investigating Officer and Police Cyber Security experts to review investigation progress.
"The Karnataka CEO has consistently been providing any additional assistance, information, or documents requested by the investigating agency," the statement added.
Earlier that day in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi held a press conference where he accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting "vote chors" and individuals undermining democracy. He referenced data from the Aland Assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically removed before elections.
Gandhi stated that in Aland, someone attempted to delete 6,018 votes and was caught by coincidence, alleging systematic deletion of Congress voter names.
Referring to the ongoing Karnataka investigation, Gandhi mentioned that the CID has sent 18 letters to the Election Commission over 18 months requesting basic information such as destination IP addresses where applications were submitted and OTP trails. He claimed this information is being withheld because it would reveal where these operations were conducted.
Providing context, the CEO's office explained that the Aland Electoral Registration Officers received 6,018 Form 7 applications submitted online through various platforms including NVSP, VHA, and GARUDA apps during December 2022.
The statement noted that due to suspicions about the authenticity of such numerous online applications for voter deletion in Aland constituency, thorough verification of each application was conducted by ERO, AERO (Assistant Electoral Registration Officer), and BLOS (Booth Level Officers).
Only 24 applications were determined to be legitimate, while 5,994 were found incorrect and subsequently rejected, preventing those deletions. "Following the BLO inquiry findings, ERO-Aland filed an FIR with the Inspector of Police at Aland Police Station, Kalaburagi district (FIR No.26/2023 Alanda Police Station dated 21.02.2023)," the statement concluded.