Karnataka Study Finds 91% Believe Polls Are Fair, BJP Hits Out At Congress

A study by a Karnataka government agency that found the people of Karnataka largely believe that elections are free and fair and that Electronic Voting Machines deliver accurate results, had provided the BJP with a handle against the state's ruling Congress. That the study comes amid Rahul Gandhi's "vote theft" campaign, where Karnataka's Kalaburgi featured prominently, had added to the BJP's delight. 

"This survey is a slap on the face of the Congress," senior state BJP leader R Ashoka said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. 

"While citizens show confidence, Congress shows doubt. While voters display maturity, Congress displays insecurity... This drama is not born out of concern for democracy. It is driven by fear of the verdict," he added.

"This is not principled politics. This is convenient politics. And no amount of manufactured narratives can hide that truth anymore," his post read.

"Rahul Gandhi's vote chori lie, Election Commission lie has been fact-checked by his own government in Karnataka... Rahul Gandhi is LOP, Leader of Propaganda," said the BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla. 

"He made all kinds of wild allegations in Bihar. But his own leaders like Tariq Anwar and Shakeel Ahmed Khan, others said that it was not vote chori, it was actually ticket chori. His allies like Omar Abdullah and Supriya Sule have also rejected these claims made by Rahul," he added.

The agency findings -- part of a study titled "Lok Sabha Elections 2024 - Evaluation of Endline Survey of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Citizens" - is published by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority.

After surveying 5,100 respondents across 102 assembly constituencies across Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru, the study had concluded that 91.31 per cent of respondents agreed that elections in India are conducted freely and fairly.

"Confidence was strongest in Kalaburagi division, where 84.67 per cent agreed and 10.19 per cent strongly agreed, followed by Belagavi division with 69.62 per cent agreeing and 19.24 per cent strongly agreeing. Mysuru division also showed high confidence, with 72.08 per cent agreeing and 15.08 per cent strongly agreeing," it said.

In September, Rahul Gandhi had accused the Election Commission of engineering mass deletion of Opposition supporters from voter list before the 2023 Karnataka election. 

The campaign was started after Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge claimed there was evidence of vote-deletion attempts, and wrote to the state's Chief Electoral Officer.