The Karnataka government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations of large-scale voter fraud in the Aland Assembly constituency, following charges raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The SIT will be led by senior IPS officer B.K. Singh, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Administration, in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Singh is noted for securing the conviction of former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna in high-profile sexual assault cases.
The SIT will also comprise SP Sydulu Adavat of the Cyber Crime Department and SP Shubhanvita of the Special Inquiry Division. Empowered with the authority of a police station, the team will investigate not only the Aland case but also related incidents across Karnataka.
The SIT will take over a case registered at the Aland police station in 2023 under IPC Sections 182, 419, 464, and 465. The case stems from allegations by Congress MLA B.R. Patil that 6,670 voter names were deleted across 256 polling booths in his constituency. While the Election Commission verified 24 deletions as legitimate, nearly 5,994 were reportedly fraudulent, allegedly filed using multiple mobile numbers without the voters’ knowledge.
Confirming the move, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said: “Rahul Gandhi has pointed out that about 6,000 names of voters were deleted in the Aland constituency, and this is true. An SIT probe will be conducted into the voter fraud case in Aland.”
Congress leaders, including Priyank Kharge and B.R. Patil, have dismissed the Election Commission’s clarification as misleading. The SIT has been directed to expedite its inquiry and submit its findings to the jurisdictional court, with a copy to be forwarded to the state government.
