SIT Formed to Investigate Voter List Manipulation in Karnataka’s Aland Constituency

In response to allegations of irregularities in the 2023 Assembly elections, the Karnataka government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to examine the removal of voters’ names from the electoral rolls in the Aland constituency of Kalaburagi. This action was prompted by accusations from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who claimed that mass deletions occurred during the elections and that the Chief Election Commissioner was complicit. The SIT will be led by an Additional Director General of Police from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The team will also include two police officers of the rank of Superintendent. The move followed a complaint by Aland MLA B.R. Patil, who reported that 6,670 voters were removed from the list across 256 polling stations. According to a government order citing the MLA, verification revealed that out of 6,018 applications to remove names, only 24 were legitimate. The remaining applications, suspected of being fraudulent, were allegedly submitted using different mobile numbers without the knowledge or consent of the affected voters. The SIT will have the authority of a police station under the Indian citizen security code 2023 and will probe all related cases in Karnataka. The investigation’s findings will be presented to the relevant courts and submitted to the state government.