‘Vote chori for just Rs 80’! SIT zeroes in on 6 suspects in Karnataka's Aland

Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) in the Aland assembly constituency during the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections has identified at least six suspects believed to be involved in efforts to delete votes.

Sources from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) revealed to PTI that the suspects were reportedly paid Rs 80 for each successfully deleted vote. Authorities received requests to remove 6,994 votes, but most were found to be fraudulent except for a few legitimate cases.

Aland, situated in Kalaburagi district of North Karnataka, is the home turf of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and represented by senior Congress MLA B R Patil. The vote deletion attempts were uncovered by Patil and Kharge's son Priyank Kharge, a minister and MLA from Chittapur, who immediately notified the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer.

Patil stated that the applications sought to delete 6,994 votes primarily from Dalit and minority communities loyal to Congress. The deletion was halted following the CEO’s intervention to maintain the status quo.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently held a press conference in New Delhi highlighting the issue of vote deletion, citing Aland as a prominent example.

Patil claimed, “Had these votes been deleted, I would have certainly lost the election.” He won the 2023 assembly election by around 10,000 votes, defeating his nearest BJP rival Subhash Guttedar.

Reacting swiftly, the Karnataka government constituted the SIT, led by Additional Director General of Police B K Singh from the CID, to investigate the alleged vote theft.

A CID official confirmed to PTI, “Attempts were indeed made in Aland to delete votes. We have questioned around 30 people, and five to six have emerged as strong suspects. They could be arrested soon.”

The SIT’s investigation is currently focused on Aland, though officials did not dismiss the possibility of similar attempts elsewhere.

According to CID sources, the suspects were linked to a data centre and used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to carry out vote deletions.

The SIT conducted raids at locations connected to the suspects, as well as at the residences of Subhash Guttedar, his sons Harshananda and Santosh, and their Chartered Accountant.

During the investigation, burnt voter records were found near Guttedar’s home. Guttedar explained to the media that the documents were destroyed by housekeeping staff as part of routine disposal ahead of Diwali.

"There was no malafide intention behind burning these documents. If we had ulterior motives, we would have done it somewhere away from our house," he said.

Minister Priyank Kharge responded to the SIT findings on ‘X’: "Voters deleted for just Rs 80 in Aland. The latest findings from the Karnataka SIT 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."

He further alleged, “A full-fledged data centre was operating out of Kalaburagi, where operators systematically deleted voters' names and tampered with our democratic process.”

Kharge accused BJP leaders and their associates of orchestrating the scheme, stating, “All investigations now point to foul play by BJP leaders and their associates. Every dirty trick and modus operandi from the BJP's #VoteChori playbook will be exposed piece by piece and every single person responsible will be held accountable and put behind bars.”

Meanwhile, Aland MLA Patil told PTI that he is unaware of the latest developments in the SIT probe and would await the final report.

PTI