Karnataka SIT uncovers Rs 80-per-voter fraud scheme in Aland seat: Over 6,000 fake deletion requests filed before 2023 polls

Karnataka SIT found in an investigation that in the Aland seat, Rs 80 was paid for every fraudulent deletion request from the voter list, ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly Election. The SIT has since raided properties belonging to BJP leader Subhash Guttedar, his sons Harshananda and Santhosh. The Aland seat was one of the anomalies brought up by the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.

According to the SIT investigation in the run-up to the 2023 assembly election, 5,994 of 6,018 voter deletion applications were forged. The credentials of other voters were used by miscreants to file Form 7 applications without the knowledge of the applicants or the targeted voters. The probe pointed to a data centre based in Kalburgi was used as a submission point for these applications. The data center believed to have operated from Guttedar’s area of influence.

Two individuals, Md Ashfaq and Md Akram, are alleged to have operated the data centre and facilitated the submission of these applications. The investigation also recovered a laptop and mobile phones. The probe found that 75 numbers belonging to people from different professions poultry farm workers to relatives of police, were used to file applications for the fraudulent deletion request from the voter list. The revelation was followed by a complaint by Congress MLA of Aland, B R Patil.

The SIT was initially stalled due to the Election Commission of India not initially providing the crucial technical data to the Criminal Investigation Department.

Congress Media Department head Pawan Khera said, “Under the BJP, the sacred right to vote has been reduced to a commodity – suspended for as little as Rs 80 per person. It is a disgrace for this government.” This was one of the prime allegations of the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, that voter deletion was not random, “there was method to this madness” said Khera, “The SIT’s findings now confirm that vote chori is no accident but a centrally organised, well-funded racket designed to rig our elections. The more we scratch the surface, the more this fraud is exposed.”