Aland vote theft case sparks heated exchange in Assembly

The vote fraud case in the Aland constituency, currently probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), sparked a heated exchange between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP members in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

B.R. Patil, MLA for Aland, sought to raise the issue while pointing out that SIT has filed a chargesheet in this regard, naming former BJP MLA Subhash Guttedar and his son as the prime accused.

Even as Speaker U.T. Khader assured him of providing permission to discuss the issue later, Mr. Patil maintained that the chargesheet had now shown who was at fault. “We must know how many BJP members have won through vote chori (vote theft) before 2023 elections,” he remarked.

This ruffled the feathers of BJP members who launched a counter attack. BJP member V. Sunil Kumar said the party was ready to debate the issue. “But lets wait till the SIT files at least an interim report so that we will have some material to discuss,” he said.

Joining Mr. Patil in the attack, Minister for Rural Development & Panchayat RajPriyank Kharge wondered where else the members could speak on vote chori if not in the Legislative Assembly. The BJP members accused the Congress of making “false allegations”.

The heated exchange of words ended with the Speaker making it clear that he would allow Mr. Patil to raise the issue again and moved to the next subject on the agenda.

The chargesheet in the case filed by the SIT has named former BJP MLA Subhash Guttedar and his son as the prime accused.