84 pc of Karnataka voters saying polls are fair is 'severe jolt' to Rahul Gandhi: BJP

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) The BJP on Friday termed as a "severe jolt" to Rahul Gandhi the Karnataka government agency's finding that most voters in the state believe the elections are free and fair, and said it raises questions on the "credibility" of the Congress leader and his "vote chori" allegation.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia also alleged that the publication of the report by a Karnataka government department reflects a contradiction between Gandhi and his party's government in the state.

He also alleged contradictions between the Congress and its allies in the opposition INDIA bloc, saying on the one hand, Gandhi makes "baseless" allegations of "vote theft" against the BJP and the Election Commission, while on the other, his own party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has accused the ruling TMC of "vote dacoity".

A study by a Karnataka government agency has noted that the majority of the respondents across all four administrative divisions in the state believe that elections in India are conducted freely and fairly and the EVMs deliver accurate results.

The findings are part of a study titled "Lok Sabha Elections 2024 - Evaluation of Endline Survey of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of Citizens", published by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority (KMEA).

The survey report dated August 2025 was recently made public, sources said.

Latching on to the report, Bhatia said, "It's a severe jolt to Rahul Gandhi who keeps making baseless allegations of 'vote chori' and plays politics of deception to mislead people." "It's his own party's government in Karnataka, which, in its report, says that 84.55 per cent people, who participated in the survey, said that they have full confidence and faith in the Election Commission and the poll process. They said that the election process is fair and it provides a level playing field to all," Bhatia said.

The survey report also noted that 83.61 per cent people expressed their confidence in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the BJP spokesperson said.

"This raises a question on the credibility of Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha," he said.

Last year in August, Gandhi had alleged that elections were rigged by the Election Commission at the behest of the BJP to help the saffron party "steal" votes and win the seat in the 2024 general elections, citing an analysis of voter data pertaining to Mahadevapura assembly constituency in Karnataka.

The Congress leader also alleged vote theft by the ruling BJP in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls, citing his party's analysis of voter data pertaining to certain constituencies in the two states.

Citing media reports later, another BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that the poll survey report "mysteriously vanished" from the Karnataka government's official website after backlash.

"The survey had revealed an inconvenient truth for the Congress... Unable to digest facts that expose their false 'vote chori' narrative, the Congress, under pressure from Rahul Gandhi's deeply dictatorial mindset, chose censorship over truth," Bhandari said in a post on X .

"Instead of accepting public opinion, they made the report disappear. This is how the Congress operates," he added. PTI PK PK KSS KSS