'He has evidence': Siddaramaiah on Rahul Gandhi's 'poll theft' charge; Lok Sabha LoP had alleged 'bhayankar chori' of votes in Karnataka

NEW DELHI: Backing Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's "poll theft" charge against the Election Commission, party leader and Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday asserted that the Lok Sabha leader of opposition has "evidence" to support his allegation.

Also Read | 'Bhayankar chori': Rahul Gandhi promises big exposé on poll 'theft'

"Rahul Gandhi has got evidence. He is coming here to protest and to meet the Election Commission officials" the CM told reporters, according to news agency PTI.


Speaking to reporters in state capital Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah further said that the "nature of the protest meet and the venue will be decided soon."

Gandhi is scheduled to participate in a protest in Bengaluru on August 5 and submit a representation to the Election Commission officials in this connection.

Amid the raging row over the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Raebareli MP had alleged on July 23 that elections are being "stolen" in the country, and claimed his party has "figured out the modus operandi of the votes theft" by studying a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka.

"In Karnataka, we have found out bhayankar chori (massive theft). I will show it in black and white to you and the Election Commission. I will show in black and white how the chori is done and from where. We have it in black and white in Karnataka," the Congress' former president had claimed.

Also Read | BJP terms Rahul Gandhi's planned protest against 'votes theft' as 'funny'

"They (Election Commission) know that we have understood their game. We picked one constituency and did a deep dive. Problem is that they give a voters list on paper and the paper list cannot be analysed. We took the full voters list of one constituency. We put it on digital format. It took six months but we have uncovered their whole system, how they do it, who votes and from where new voters are brought," he added.

However, he did not name the "one constituency."

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 17 seats (25 in 2019) while its ally JD(S) scored two wins. On the other hand, the Congress increased its tally to 9 - an increase of 8 seats - just a year after ousting the BJP from office in the southern state.

The Election Commission has firmly rejected Gandhi's charge.
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