The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged “vote chori” (vote theft) in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections has uncovered evidence of attempts to delete thousands of votes in the Aland constituency of Kalaburagi district. Investigators have identified at least six suspects believed to be directly involved in the operation.
According to top officials in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the accused were allegedly paid Rs 80 for each successfully deleted vote. Investigators found that nearly 6,994 deletion requests were filed, the majority of them fraudulent. Only a few applications were deemed genuine, reported PTI, quoting sources.
Aland, represented by senior Congress MLA BR Patil, falls within Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s home district. It was Patil, along with Kharge’s son and Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, who first flagged the irregularities and alerted the state’s Chief Electoral Officer.
Patil claimed that the deletion requests primarily targeted voters from Dalit and minority communities, many of whom were believed to be Congress supporters. “Had these votes been deleted, I would have surely lost the election,” he said. Patil had won the 2023 Assembly poll by a margin of around 10,000 votes against BJP’s Subhash Guttedar.
Following the complaint, the Chief Electoral Officer ordered a halt to the deletions, maintaining the status quo. The issue later gained national attention when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cited the Aland case during a press conference in New Delhi as part of his larger allegation of “vote theft” across several constituencies.
Taking serious note of the allegations, the Karnataka government constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by Additional Director General of Police (CID) BK Singh to probe the matter. “Attempts were indeed made in Aland to delete votes. We questioned about 30 individuals, and five to six have emerged as prime suspects who could face arrest,” a senior CID official said on Thursday.
While investigators have not ruled out the possibility of similar scams elsewhere, the focus remains on Aland for now. Sources revealed that the six suspects were linked to a data centre and allegedly used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to carry out the deletions.
The SIT has since conducted multiple raids on properties associated with the suspects, including those linked to BJP leader Subhash Guttedar, his sons Harshananda and Santosh, and their chartered accountant. During the raids, investigators also discovered burnt voter records near Guttedar’s residence.
Guttedar, however, dismissed any wrongdoing, claiming the documents were destroyed by housekeeping staff during Diwali cleaning. “There was no malicious intent behind burning these papers. If we had anything to hide, we wouldn’t have done it near our own house,” he told reporters.
Reacting to the findings, Minister Priyank Kharge posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Voters deleted for just ₹80 in Aland. The latest SIT findings confirm what we’ve been saying all along: over 6,000 genuine voters were struck off the rolls through a paid operation ahead of the 2023 elections.”
Kharge further alleged that a “full-fledged data centre” was operating out of Kalaburagi, systematically erasing names from the voters’ list. “All investigations now point to foul play by BJP leaders and their associates. Every dirty trick from the BJP’s #VoteChori playbook will be exposed piece by piece. Those responsible will be held accountable and put behind bars,” he added.
Aland MLA B.R. Patil said he was yet to be briefed on the SIT’s latest findings but would wait for the final outcome of the investigation.