4 Accused In Aland Voter Fraud Case Succeeded In Getting Wrongful Deletion Of 5994 Voter Names Using ECI Portal, Says SIT Charge Sheet

BENGALURU: While 3 accused are conspirators, four accused in vote fraud case related to Aland Assembly seat of Kalaburagi had thorough understanding of the how to manipulate things to get selected names removed from the voter list using portals maintained by Election Commission of India (ECI) and eventually succeeded in getting omission of as many as 5,994 names from the voter list out of submitted 6018 applications, says charge sheet filed by sleuths of Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the State Government. The purpose of wrongfully deleting selected voter names was to gain political advantage for Subhash Guttedar, a Bharatiya Janata Party nominee in the 2023 election from Aland. The charge sheet of the SIT names former MLA Subhash Guttedar as accused 1, his son Harshanand Guttedar as accused 2, his close associate Tipperudra as accused 3, Akram Pasha accused 4, Aslam Pasha accused 5 and Mohammed Ashfaq as accused 6 and Bapi Adya, a native of West Bengal as accused 7 in the vote fraud case. The sleuths of Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged vote fraud case with respect to Aland Assembly seat of Kalaburagi, in its charge sheet, pointed to the accused persons identified as Akram Pasha, Aslam Pasha and Mohammed Ashfaq, had frequent “unlawful gain” to NISP/ National Voter Service Portal (NVSP) an online service developed and maintained by Election Commission of India to remove selected names in the voter list. While accused, 7 Bipa Adya supplied One Time Password (OTPs) to create login IDs on National Voter Service Portal using illegally obtained mobile phone numbers and OTPs thereby facilitating identification and impersonation of third parties online. The charge sheet stated accused Akram Pasha is linked to other accused persons in the vote fraud case and he frequently accessed NISP/NVSP portals maintained by the Election Commission of India and alleged to have acted with a specific intent to obtain ‘unlawful gain” after learning that National Voter Service Portal accepted mobile numbers for login/register using One Time Password (OTP), once logged in, only the password associated with the login ID is needed, after login, there is no time limit for the session (no automatic logout), an unlimited of application can be submitted once a login is created, the mobile number used for deletion of applications may be any 10-digit number even one unrelated to the voter and the original voter does not receive any electronic notification when a deletion application is submitted in Form 7. Prior to the deletion of selected voter names in the list, details of original voter names, voter list information and associated data were gathered and the scheme involved creating electronic documents, containing false information and submitted them as genuine applications, so that Election Commission would accept the applications as real and remove the names from the voter list. To get selected names deleted from the voter list, a conspiracy was hatched by former Aland MLA Subhash Guttedar along with his son Harshanand Guttedar, close associate Tipperudra and Akram Pasha to identifying voters who did not vote for Subhash Guttedar and by targeting their names for deletion from the voter list was to secure political advantage in which they succeeded. Earlier, the Election Commission of India sought an investigation into the allegations that during December 9, 2022 to February, 20, 2023, attempts were made to remove names from the voter list without the knowledge of original voters across 256 polling stations of Aland Assembly seat. Out of 6,018 applications received for deletion, 5,994 voter names were rejected. The Karnataka government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT).



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