Vote 'theft': ECI 'lying', colluding with BJP, allege Priyank Kharge

Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Friday alleged that the Election Commission has lied by saying that it has provided all the information with regard to the vote theft while the letter sent by the Joint Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka on February 4, 2025 tells a different story.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday had alleged in a press conference that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was protecting ‘vote chors’ (vote thieves).

Addressing reporters in Bengaluru, Priyank Kharge, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, said the CID wrote 18 letters and the latest one was on February 1, 2025 where it asked the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to direct the concerned to provide the relevant information for the purpose of investigation.

Kharge read out the CID letter which said, "During the course of investigation, the IP (internet protocol) logs are provided. On perusal of the destination, IP and the destination port are missing. Therefore, it is requested to direct the concerned to provide the same and also provide the information document related to below mentioned queries."

According to the Minister CID had five queries.

These were: "Whether OTP/multifactor authentication facility is adopted by the National Voters' Service Portal (NVSP), Voter Helpline App (VHA) platforms. Whether the OTP authentication facility is extended to upload applications, if so, provide details."

"If authentication like OTP existed, whether the OTP will be sent to the mobile number used for login or mobile number provided in the form by applicant or both. Provide the certificate under 65B of Indian Evidence Act by the person holding lawful control user from where the logs were created during the activities and generated to produce before the Law Enforcement Agency (LEA). Further the Honourable Supreme Court held that 65B certificate is mandatory for the admissibility of electronic device in the secondary form as evidence..."

"Direct the concerned to arrange a presentation with respect to the allegation made and step-by-step usage of NVSP, VHA and Garuda apps from voters/public perspective to the investigation team."

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) forwarded the letter to the Election Commission of India on Feburary 4, Kharge said.

In the letter to ECI, the Joint CEO said, 'The investigating officer has requested to provide certain information ….. related to the submission of online application for deletion of names in the Aland Assembly Constituency. The investigating officer has also requested to provide certificate under 65B of the Indian Evidence Act by the person holding lawful control/user from where the logs were created during the activities generated to produce before the LEA," the letter said.

Kharge said, the Joint CEO sent this to the ECI.

"Whom are you lying to? If you have provided all the information then why did you write this letter," he asked.

He underlined that the communication was between the ECI itself.

Congress MLA from Aland, BR Patil said that he got to know for the first time in February 2023 when Vijay Kumar from Kamanahalli village told him that a request has come to the returning officer to delete his name.

Soon, he was flooded with complaints. In all, 6,018 votes deletion request had come.

"I got alarmed. I met the officers in the state election commission, lodged a complaint to the CEC through Deputy Commissioner of Kalaburagi district on February 10, 2023," he said.

Later, he along with Kharge met the then Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena who found truth in their complaint and ordered status quo that no votes be deleted.

There were 6,018 vote deletion requests in Aland in 2023. Those who applied and whose name to be deleted had no information about it. EPIC numbers were used to delete the votes, the MLA said.

"This forgery was done to defeat me. BJP did it and the Election Commission did it. Without the collusion of the two, this cannot happen," he alleged.

Citing an example of Suryakant Govin, a retired teacher, Patil said his EPIC number was used to make a request to delete 12 voters.

When people asked Govin how he was requesting the deletion of votes, he said he has no clue.

Similar thing happened with Godha Bai, an illiterate, whose EPIC card was used for deleting 12 voters in 14 minutes.

"This is a major network. The mobile phones that were utilised for requesting deletion of votes were found to be in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and so on," he charged.

The office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Thursday had said all available information with the EC regarding alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in Aland constituency in the run up to 2023 assembly polls, has already been shared with Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi.