Karnataka CEO will continue to assist probe into Aland case: ECI

The Election Commission of India on Friday (September 19, 2025) said that the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer has been providing, and would continue to provide, all information to the State CID for investigation into the Aland fake voter deletion matter.

At a press conference in the national capital on Thursday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had said that despite repeated reminders from the Karnataka CID, the ECI had not provided information needed for probe into the case.

The ECI on Friday (September 19, 2025) said in an official statement that although an elector of the constituency can fill Form 7 online to apply for deletion of an entry from that particular constituency, it does not mean that the entry gets automatically deleted merely by submitting the Form 7.

“As per Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, no name is deleted from the roll without issuing a notice to the affected person and giving him an opportunity of being heard. In the case of Aland, Karnataka, 6,018 applications in Form 7 for deletion were submitted online. On verification, only 24 applications were found to be genuine, while 5,994 were found to be incorrect. Accordingly, 24 applications were accepted, and the 5,994 incorrect applications were rejected,” the statement said.

A complaint had been filed by the Electoral Registration Officer, at the Aland police station, suspecting the genuineness of such a large number of applications for deletion.

“Based on the instructions of the ECI, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka handed over all available information with the Commission to the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi district, on 06.09.2023 for completing the investigation. The shared information included objector details such as Form Reference Number, name of the objector, EPIC number, mobile number used for login, mobile number provided for processing, software application medium, IP address, applicant place, form submission date and time, and user creation date.”

“The CEO, Karnataka, has been providing continuous assistance, including any further information and documents, to the investigating agency,” it said.

Regarding the case of Rajura, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, the poll body said that a total of 7,792 applications for new voter registration were received. On verification, 6,861 applications were found invalid and thus rejected.

Again, “suspecting the genuineness of such a large number of applications for addition, an inquiry was conducted by Electoral Registration Officer, Rajura and subsequently Crime No. 629/2024 was registered at Rajura Police Station”.

Mr. Gandhi, in his press conference, had also flagged the case of Rajura, saying that while voter names were being deleted in a fraudulent manner in Karnataka, fake voters were being added in Maharashtra’s Rajura.