IPS officer BK Singh to head SIT formed to probe ‘vote theft’ in K’taka’s Aland Assembly (Ld)

The Karnataka government has launched a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to dig into serious “Vote Chori” allegations in the Aland Assembly constituency. The move comes after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spotlighted claims of voter fraud there. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the decision on Saturday, promising a thorough probe into how nearly 6,000 voter names vanished from the rolls.

Senior IPS officer B.K. Singh will lead the SIT. Singh, who now serves as Additional Director General of Police in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and heads its Economic Offences Wing, previously nailed down the conviction of former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna—the grandson of ex-Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda—in a high-profile sex scandal and rape case. Joining Singh are SP Sydulu Adavat from the Cyber Crime Department and SP Shubhanvita from the CID’s Special Inquiry Division.

The SIT will operate like its own police station, taking over the 2023 case filed at Aland police station in Kalaburagi district. That case, under Indian Penal Code sections for false information, cheating, forgery, and more, involves shady attempts to delete voters’ names. The team will also handle any related criminal cases across Karnataka police stations—past, present, or future—and wrap up the investigation quickly. They’ll report findings to the court and send a copy to the government via the Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police, all under the CID chief’s watch.

Here’s what sparked the uproar: Aland Congress MLA B.R. Patil complained that 6,670 voters’ names got dropped from lists across 256 polling booths in his constituency. The Election Commission of India (ECI) checked it out and confirmed 24 deletions based on legit applications from government websites. But when officials like KAS officer Mamatha Kumari dug deeper into the remaining 5,994 requests, they uncovered fraud—people with bad intentions had filed them using fake mobile numbers, without the real voters’ knowledge.

Siddaramaiah addressed the issue head-on during a stop in Gadag city. “Rahul Gandhi highlighted that around 6,000 voter names were deleted in Aland, and that’s spot on,” he said. “We’ll form an SIT to investigate this voter fraud case in Aland.”

Tensions boiled over as state ministers and Patil slammed the ECI for denying the charges. At a joint press conference in Bengaluru on Friday, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge didn’t hold back. “After Rahul Gandhi’s press conference, the Election Commission acts like they caught and stopped the voter fraud themselves. They claim they blocked the deletions. That’s a total lie,” Kharge told reporters.

Patil echoed the frustration, thanking Gandhi for putting the Aland voter fraud scandal on the national map. “I congratulate Rahul Gandhi for raising this, and I thank Priyank Kharge for backing me up,” the MLA added.

This SIT probe could shake up discussions on election integrity in Karnataka, especially as voter list manipulations grab more attention ahead of key polls.


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