BENGALURU: Hitting out at the BJP-led Central government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah termed ‘vote theft’ as an attack on the very idea of India.
“A government born out of stolen votes is not a democratic government,” he said at a rally against vote chori in New Delhi on Sunday, and demanded transparent electoral rolls, accountability of election authorities and independent institutions.
“This is a government that fears people, manipulates the mandate and survives only through deceit. This is precisely how democracies decline into electoral autocracies. Today, BJP’s vote chori is the biggest threat to the republic since independence,’’ Siddaramaiah said.
The CM said the power of the vote is the foundation of democracy.
“It is precisely this sacred power that the BJP is attacking through various methods, including the misuse of the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists. Power is being stolen repeatedly and people have to raise their voice against this,’’ he said.
He added that Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi exposed the mismatch in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and patterns that pointed to systematic and organised vote theft.
“From Mahadevapura to Aland in Karnataka, from Haryana to Bihar, he revealed how votes were suppressed, shifted, or diluted, especially in areas that stood with the Congress and INDIA bloc,” the CM said.
He said evidence was presented for fraud in Mahadevapura, while in Aland, thousands of attempted deletions of legitimate voters were recorded ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls. This prompted an FIR and SIT investigation.
“SIT filed a charge-sheet naming seven individuals, including a former BJP MLA and his son, for allegedly attempting to delete nearly 6,000 voters’ names from the rolls in Aland constituency, marking a significant legal step in the fight against vote chori,’’ he added.
The CM also said the movement against vote theft is bigger than elections. “This movement is bigger than any party. This movement is about saving the republic that generations fought for.”
DCM DK Shivakumar said the struggle against vote theft, which they launched to protect democracy, will continue.
“We will establish a legal cell in every constituency. Lawyers who support our party will be included, and they will provide legal guidance to our workers,” he added.
“Rajya Sabha member GC Chandrashekhar has prepared booth-level agent identity cards. We will take it to the AICC for approval. We have collected the highest number of signatures in the entire country.”
