October 25, 2025

BENGALURU: Hold onto your hats! Karnataka’s special investigation team (SIT) is unraveling a jaw-dropping scam from Aland constituency during the 2023 assembly polls. The scoop? Names of voters were mysteriously deleted from the electoral rolls for just Rs 80 each! Yes, you heard right! This shady operation happened at a cyber centre in Aland where operators reportedly earned Rs 80 per fake deletion application. The SIT, taking over from the CID cyber crime unit, has identified six suspects linked to this scam. They believe around 6,000 honest voters were wiped off the list! A CID official spilled the beans: “At least 6,000 votes have been allegedly deleted.” The deletions happened between December 2022 and February 2023 using a sneaky technology called VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). While some deletion requests were genuine, suspiciously most targeted Dalit and minority voters, raising big alarms about discrimination. As soon as the Chief Electoral Officer stepped in, the illegal deletions were stopped. The plot thickens with a local man named Mohammed Ashfaq, who was questioned in February 2023 and then allowed to go. Today, he's chilling in Dubai as a blue corner notice is being processed to bring him back. Aland is in Kalaburagi district, represented by Congress MLA B R Patil. Both he and Kalaburagi’s minister Priyank Kharge first raised eyebrows about these irregularities. After Rahul Gandhi dropped the big bomb about vote theft in Aland—the home turf of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge—the Congress government set up this SIT led by ADGP B K Singh. Priyank Kharge didn’t hold back on social media: “Voters deleted for just Rs 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 operating out of Kalaburagi, where operators were systematically deleting voters' names and tampering with our democratic process. All investigations now point to foul play by BJP functionaries and their associates. Every dirty trick and modus operandi from the BJP's #VoteChori playbook will be exposed, and every single person responsible will be held accountable and put behind bars.” The game is getting serious! On October 17, the SIT conducted dramatic raids on former BJP MLA Subhash Guttedar, his sons, and their chartered accountant Mallikarjun Mahantagol. The police seized seven laptops and several mobile phones, hoping to find more clues. Congress accused the BJP of stealing votes and called this a direct attack on democracy. Their post on X (formerly Twitter) said: “The truth about the BJP's vote theft is now before the country. The cost of deleting a vote was Rs 80. This exposé pertains to just one assembly seat. This 'vote theft' by BJP is a direct attack on democracy—where the rights of the poor and marginalised are being snatched, and their voices suppressed.” On the other side, Aland MLA B R Patil stayed cool and declined to comment on the SIT's progress but said, “SIT is moving in the right direction.” So, the voter deletion story is far from over! Will justice roll in or slip away like the deleted names? Stay tuned for more drama from Karnataka’s political battleground!

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Tags: Karnataka voter deletion, Aland scam, Karnataka sit probe, Vote theft, Rahul gandhi allegations, Bjp accused,