NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of “stonewalling crucial information” in a probe related to alleged voter fraud in Karnataka’s Aland constituency, questioning whether the poll body has become “BJP’s back-office for vote chori.”
In a post on X, Kharge shared a media report claiming that the case, linked to an attempt to remove electors by forging Form 7 applications ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, has gone cold as the ECI has not shared key documents needed to track the accused.
“Understand the chronology. Ahead of the May 2023 Karnataka elections, Congress had exposed a massive deletion of voters in the Aland Constituency. Thousands of voters were stripped of their rights through a very sophisticated operation of forging Form 7 applications,” Kharge said.
He added that in February 2023, a case was filed and the probe revealed 5,994 forged applications, providing clear evidence of a large-scale attempt at voter fraud. The Congress government had then ordered a CID probe to catch the culprits.
Kharge alleged, “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!”
He questioned why the ECI had suddenly blocked vital evidence, asking, “Who is it protecting? BJP’s Vote Chori department? Is the ECI bending under BJP pressure to derail the CID probe?”
Kharge emphasised that protecting individuals’ right to vote and safeguarding Indian democracy remain paramount.
In the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, Congress candidate Bhojaraj won the Aland constituency with a margin of nearly 10,000 votes against BJP’s Subhash Guttedar.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)