Bengaluru: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is protecting those responsible for voter fraud in Karnataka by withholding crucial evidence. Explaining the sequence of events, Kharge stated, "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 through a very sophisticated operation of forging Form 7 applications."

He added, "In February 2023, a case was filed. The probe revealed 5,994 forged applications—clear evidence of a massive attempt at voter fraud. The Congress government then ordered a CID probe to catch the culprits."

Kharge accused the ECI of stonewalling vital information needed to trace these forgeries, saying, "While ECI had earlier shared part of the documents needed to trace the forgery, it has now stonewalled the crucial information—effectively shielding those behind the Vote Chori!"

Questioning the ECI’s motives, he asked, "Why has the ECI suddenly blocked vital evidence? Who is it protecting? BJP's Vote Chori department? Is the ECI bending under BJP pressure to derail the CID probe?"

Kharge emphasised the importance of democratic rights, concluding, "Individual's right to vote needs to be protected. INDIAN Democracy needs to be protected." 

With inputs from PTI