Mumbai: Things got interesting when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made some big claims about voter fraud in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura. He said the election was rigged, and the Election Commission jumped right on it to check things out. But what’s actually happening can turn out to be different from what Gandhi said.
Gandhi pointed fingers, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cheated to win. He said there were issues in Mahadevapura, a part of Bengaluru Central. He mentioned one case where 80 voters were registered at a tiny room in Muni Reddy Garden, saying these were fake voters to help the BJP. He also said over 4,000 voters had unclear photos and brought up one guy, Aditya Srivastava, who he said was registered in Lucknow, Mumbai, and Mahadevapura at the same time.
The Election Commission sent people to look into it the next day. A reporter from India TV went to Muni Reddy Garden and found out the house was small, but the voters were mostly migrant workers – housekeepers and security guards. They use the address to get proof of where they live so they can get government help. They move around a lot but don’t change their voter info, which is why so many people are linked to one address.
The owner’s brother, Gopal Reddy, said people just don’t bother updating their voter cards when they move. He mentioned that they’re daily-wage workers, it’s difficult for them to find the time to keep their documents up to date. It shows there are some administrative problems with keeping voter lists up-to-date.
About those unclear photos? The reporter found a family that had lived in Bengaluru for 12 years. They had moved from Vijay Nagar, voted in the last election with their Aadhaar cards, and were waiting for their new voter IDs. One of them, Omprakash, was upset, saying they weren’t fake voters and had only voted once in Mahadevapura.
That guy, Aditya Srivastava? Election officials in Uttar Pradesh said his name wasn’t even on Lucknow’s voter list. Srivastava told India TV that he moved his vote to Mumbai in 2018 and then to Bengaluru four years ago, stating he has one voter ID.
Gandhi also said the BJP only won Bengaluru Central because they got 1.4 lakh more votes in Mahadevapura. He said Congress won most of the other areas, but lost because of Mahadevapura. But Bengaluru Central has eight areas, not seven, and Congress won in five, while BJP won in three. Besides, Mahadevapura has been a BJP area since 2008, and Bengaluru Central has voted for BJP since 2009.
The Election Commission wants Gandhi to back up his claims with proof. So far, it looks like these could be some normal mistakes and people moving around, not some big plan to rig the election. The BJP is now saying Gandhi is lying to the public.