Congress to release documents on voter list ‘manipulation’ in Karnataka on August 5

BENGALURU: The Congress party is set to release ‘Karnataka Files’ on August 5, to expose alleged electoral malpractices in the state. This move comes after Rahul Gandhi’s accusations of vote theft in Karnataka.

Interestingly, while Rahul Gandhi initially accused electoral malpractice in one constituency, the upcoming release will reportedly feature evidence of alleged irregularities in two constituencies in Bengaluru — Bengaluru Central and Bengaluru Rural.

The party claims that the Election Commission was involved in electoral malpractices, including adding and deleting voter names and including fake voters.

Notably, the Congress party has remained silent on the issue of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) this time. Instead, they are currently focusing on levelling various accusations against the Election Commission.

The release of these documents is expected to create a stir in the political landscape, especially with the Bihar Assembly elections on the horizon. As per sources, a platform is setting up at Freedom Park to stage a protest condemning the alleged voter list manipulation.

The Congress, raising suspicions of irregularities in voting in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat, has got fewer votes, while the party led in other areas. The party alleging that there were discrepancies in the vote count in Mahadevapura, Gandhinagar and Shivajinagar, with claims of intentional deletion of votes in some areas.

It is alleged that there is a lack of proper documentation for around 60,000 votes in Mahadevapura alone. As per their survey, significant variations in vote counts were observed between different polling booths.

The party is also claiming that voter names were not added to polling stations in an orderly manner. Another similar allegation of vote tampering was made in the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency, and suspiciously low voter turnout was reported in some areas.

According to the party’s calculation, the margin of victory was expected to be around 7-8 thousand votes, but the actual margin was 2.68 lakh votes, which is considered implausible. The ruling party alleged that the EC added and removed old voters’ names from the voters list.