In Karnataka 'Vote Chori' Row, A Data Team's Possible Deletion Role: Sources

In mid-September Congress MP Rahul Gandhi thundered a warning - with slick PowerPoint presentations to back him up - about mass deletion of voters before the Karnataka Assembly election in 2023 and last year's general election.

The Election Commission and Bharatiya Janata Party - accused of 'collusion to commit voter fraud - junked the claim, and blamed the Congress for "baseless" allegations.

Fast-forward nine weeks and police sources told NDTV of a possible break in the case.

Sources said it appears a data entry team could have been paid money - a few lakh rupees in total - to delete a certain number of voters from the roll. At least six people were involved.

Sources told news agency PTI Rs 80 was paid for every successfully deleted voter, and that there were requests to delete nearly 7,000 voters from the rolls before the 2023 state election.

A senior police official told PTI 'attempts were made in Aland to delete votes. We questioned about 30 people and, of them, five or six are strong suspects. They can be arrested.'

All six were associated with the data centre and made VoIP, or voice over internet protocol, calls to delete voters. Raids on their homes and linked premises led to electronic devices being seized.

These devices have been sent to forensic labs for data extraction.

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge reacted strongly to these reports, declaring on X, "The latest 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 in Aland. A full-fledged data centre was operating out of Kalaburagi, where operators were systematically deleting voters' names..."

Voters deleted for just ₹80 in Aland.

The latest findings from the Karnataka SIT 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 in Aland. A full-fledged data centre was… pic.twitter.com/BretH4QX2x

— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) October 23, 2025

But perhaps the big development was the discovery of burnt voter records, hundreds of them, near ex- BJP lawmaker Subhash Guttedar's residence in the district last week. Guttedar claimed housekeeping staff incinerated 'waste material' and the burnt papers were not important.

"There was no mala fide intention behind burning these documents. If we had ulterior motives, we would have done it somewhere away from our house," the BJP leader said.

READ | Burnt Records Near Ex-BJP MLA's Home Amid 'Vote Theft' Probe

Aland is in Kalaburagi in northern Karnataka, and is the home turf of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, as well as senior MLA BR Patil, who represents the constituency in the Assembly.

'Vote chori' red flags surfaced after Patil and Kharge's son, Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge, claimed proof of vote-deletion attempts, and wrote to the state's Chief Electoral Officer.

Patil claimed fraud applications were filed to delete 6,994 votes from marginalised and oppressed communities, which traditionally vote for the Congress.

Last month Rahul Gandhi - who has been taking the 'vote chori' row fight to the BJP ahead of the November election in Bihar - showed videos and offered data to back his claim.

READ | "Wake Up At 4 AM, Delete 2 Voters": Rahul Gandhi's Latest Gets BJP Retort

One clip showed how, at 4 am on December 19, 2022, someone had opened, completed, and submitted forms to delete two names from the voter roll, all within 36 seconds.

A day later the state's Congress government formed a special team to handle the case.

Meanwhile, the 'vote chori' campaign is now underpinning the opposition's campaign for next month's Bihar election. The Congress leader and the Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav - who today was finally confirmed as the chief ministerial candidate - held 'voter adhikar' rallies to drum up support.

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