ECI has turned into 'BJP's back-office for Vote Chori': Mallikarjun Kharge

Bengaluru, Sep 7 (PTI) Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday questioned the role of the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging that it has turned into the "BJP's Back-Office for Vote Chori." In a post on 'X', Kharge said, "Understand the chronology. 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." "In Feb 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.

"But here's the twist: 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 Vote Chori!" Kharge 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?" Reiterating the importance of democratic rights, Kharge concluded: "Individual's right to vote needs to be protected. INDIAN Democracy needs to be protected." PTI GMS KH