Following allegations of voter fraud in the Aland Assembly segment raised by Rahul Gandhi, the Karnataka government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the charges. The SIT will be headed by senior IPS officer BK Singh, who previously secured the conviction of former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna in the Hassan rape and sexual assault cases.
BK Singh, currently Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Administration in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), will lead the SIT, which also includes SP Sydulu Adavat from the Cyber Crime Department (CCD) and SP Shubhanvita from the Special Inquiry Division (SED). The SIT will have the powers of a police station to investigate the Aland case and related cases across the state.
The SIT will take over the Aland police station case registered in 2023 under IPC Sections 182, 419, 464, and 465. Congress MLA BR Patil alleged that in his constituency, 6,670 voter names were deleted across 256 polling booths. While the Election Commission verified that 24 applications were legitimate, 5,994 applications were reportedly filed fraudulently using different mobile numbers without voters’ knowledge.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah confirmed the SIT formation, stating, “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 BR Patil, criticized the Election Commission’s clarification on the matter, calling it misleading. The SIT has been instructed to complete the probe swiftly and submit its report to the jurisdictional court while forwarding a copy to the government.
