Nagpur: Karnataka Congress MLA B R Patil on Friday claimed that the Election Commission's response to the voter deletion row in his constituency, Aland, has been evasive and inadequate, and urged the poll body to provide information sought by the special investigation team (SIT) probing into the matter.
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Patil, the vice-chairman of the Karnataka State Policy and Planning Commission, claimed that a systematic conspiracy was hatched to defeat him in the Aland constituency in the 2023 state assembly elections, when an attempt was made to delete 6,018 voters and fraudulent applications were filed through automated software.
He alleged that the EC's response to the Aland voter deletion "scandal" has once again been evasive, inadequate, and most importantly, misdirected.
The EC is offering clarifications no one asked for, he said.
"They (EC) have said that 'no deletion of any voter can be done online by any member of the public', but in the FIR it has registered in 2023, the poll body acknowledges attempted fraud. It has not explained how such bulk rapid filings evaded safeguards," Patil said.
He said that Congress has pointed out that an attempt was made to delete 6,018 voters, and fraudulent applications were filed through automated software.
The MLA cited the examples of one Suryakant Govin, whose EPIC number he claimed was used to make a request to delete 12 voters, and the EPIC card of one Godha Bai was used to delete 12 voters in 14 minutes.
Patil alleged that a sophisticated backend system was used solely to fraudulently add and delete voters in the constituency in Kalaburgi district.
The EC says FIR was registered, but let us be clear, it was filed by the election returning officer because Congress flagged the fraud, he claimed.
"The EC is also saying that the data sought had already been shared. But if the data was already shared, why did the Karnataka chief electoral officer write on several occasions to the ECI for all relevant details?" he questioned.
He further questioned why the Karnataka CID wrote 18 letters over 18 months, the latest dated September 9, still seeking the same information.
"Why is the EC refusing to provide destination IPs, device ports and OTP details trails? Are they suggesting this critical data has been destroyed? Or are they saying that they are in no mood to help the investigation?" the Congress leader said.
Patil said that he has made suggestions to the Congress and party leader Rahul Gandhi to either stage an agitation or approach the high court and fight a legal battle.
He said the Karnataka government last month instituted an SIT to specially probe the voter deletion in Aland and has started seeking information from the EC.
"I request the EC to provide the information sought by the SIT so that it can investigate the matter," the Congress leader said.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and auto-generated from an agency feed.)
