Karnataka SIT Unearths Call Centre-Like Setup For Enabling Deletion of Voter Names in Aland
The Wire Staff
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Mangaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to investigate the alleged voter theft in Aland constituency in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district has claimed to have established the use of around five computer sets to fill online fraudulent forms. According to media reports, four alleged suspects, identified as Akram, Ashfaque, Nadeem, and Mushtaq, have reportedly set up computers to file 6,018 fraudulent ‘Form 7 applications’ on the Election Commission website for deletion of names.
The SIT is reported to have also unearthed a “call centre-like” setup where Rs. 80 was paid to make each of those over 6,000 fraudulent applications.
According to the New Indian Express, the SIT probe focuses on finding the alleged key perpetrators handling the four identified suspects.
During the course of the investigation, the SIT raided premises linked to BJP MLA Subash Guttedar. The BJP MLA won the 2018 elections with a slender margin of 698 votes against the Congress candidate B.R. Patil, and in 2023, Guttedar lost to Patil by 10,347 votes. The SIT has not attributed any reason for the raid or accused Guttedar of any role in the alleged scam so far.
The alleged Aland vote theft scam is one among the few constituencies that Congress’s Member of Parliament and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi cited in his press conference a month ago. The allegations of vote theft in Aland constituency were first raised in 2023.
Last month, the SIT accused the Election Commission of not cooperating with them in the investigation and allegedly not providing them with the vital digital evidence to follow the theft trail.
The SIT claims to have also unravelled that the perpetrators had allegedly used 75 mobile phone numbers of people from vulnerable sections of society from across the country to create login IDs for the 6,018 applications. Among many things, the SIT is probing the loopholes used to create login IDs with single one-time passwords (OTPs).
While the suspects Akram, Nadeem, and Mushtaq have been questioned, the SIT has told the media that it is now planning to bring back Ashfaque, who is said to be in Dubai.
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