Aland call centre owner got Rs 60 for every voter name deleted

BENGALURU: The Aland constituency ‘vote theft’ case has taken a dramatic turn with the revelation that a call centre owner, Mohammad Ashfaq, was involved in deleting voter names from the electoral roll.

Ashfaq allegedly ran a call centre where employees would submit applications to the Election Commission to delete voter names, charging Rs 80 per application. He reportedly received Rs 4.08 lakh for deleting 6,018 votes between December 2022 and February 2023.

The SIT is planning to seek Interpol’s help to track down the accused. The applications were allegedly submitted by a call centre using local residents’ names. Earlier, the CID had raided Ashfaq’s call centre in Kalaburagi.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has discovered evidence of cash payments made to Ashfaq and is now seeking Interpol’s help to track him down, as he has fled to Dubai. The investigation has also revealed that Ashfaq was paid by the owner of Apna Bar and chartered accountant Mahantesh.

The Aland constituency vote theft case has taken a dramatic turn with the SIT investigation revealing that 6,018 fake applications were submitted to delete voter names from the electoral roll.

The investigation has found that a data centre in Kalaburagi received Rs 80 per application, totaling Rs 4.8 lakh, for deleting voter names. Local resident Mohammad Ashfaq is alleged to have been involved in submitting these applications using 75 mobile numbers.

Ashfaq has fled to Dubai saying he will get electronic devices. The case has sparked controversy, with allegations that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was involved in the vote deletion. The investigation is ongoing.