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‘Not A Poll Integrity Certificate’: Siddaramaiah Flags Misuse Of EC Survey After BJP's Ire
‘Not A Poll Integrity Certificate’: Siddaramaiah Flags Misuse Of EC Survey After BJP's Ire
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that an Election Commission survey is being misused to create a misleading narrative against allegations of electoral malpractice raised by Rahul Gandhi.
In a post on X, he argued that the survey, now being cited by sections of the media, does not address the concerns being raised and cannot be used to discredit them.
Siddaramaiah said the survey in question was not a political opinion poll. Instead, it was an end-line administrative assessment carried out under the SVEEP voter awareness programme. Commissioned by the Election Commission of India, the survey was conducted in May 2025 to measure voter education, not to verify the integrity of elections or respond to allegations raised later.
He also pointed to the timing of the survey. According to him, the exercise was completed months before Rahul Gandhi raised concerns in August 2025 about organised manipulation of voter lists, referred to as “Vote Chori". Using data collected before these allegations emerged to dismiss later evidence, he said, was misleading.
“First, the nature of the survey itself must be understood. This was not a political opinion poll. It was an end-line administrative evaluation of voter awareness under SVEEP programmes, commissioned by the Election Commission of India and conducted in May 2025. Its purpose was to assess voter education efforts – not to certify the integrity of electoral processes or respond to allegations that surfaced months later. An awareness survey cannot be twisted into a certificate of electoral integrity," he said.
The Karnataka CM questioned the reliability of the survey due to its limited sample size. The survey covered 5,100 respondents in Karnataka, a state with over 5.3 crore adult voters.
This, the CM said, represents less than 0.01 per cent of the electorate.
He stated that the survey was conducted by an NGO, GRAAM, founded by Dr R Balasubramaniam, who currently holds a Union government-appointed position and authored a book in 2024 praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Siddaramaiah said this aspect has been ignored in media reports.
He clarified that Rahul Gandhi has not questioned democracy or the electoral process itself, instead, he has sought transparency on issues such as voter roll access, safeguards against surveillance, scrutiny of EVMs, and the independence of the Election Commissioner appointment process.
“Rahul Gandhi's position has been deliberately distorted. He has not questioned democracy or elections – he has sought basic transparency from the Election Commission on voter roll access, surveillance safeguards, EVM scrutiny, and the independence of the Election Commissioner appointment process – questions that remain unanswered," he said.
“Finally, Vote Chori is not a slogan. It is a chargesheet. In Aland, a Karnataka Police SIT has filed a 22,000-page chargesheet naming seven accused – including a former BJP MLA – for attempting to illegally delete 5,994 genuine voters using OTP bypass technology. This investigation was conducted by our government despite winning the seat – and it forced systemic changes by the Election Commission itself," added Siddaramaiah.
Citing a Karnataka Police SIT investigation in Aland, Siddaramaiah said a 22,000-page chargesheet had already been filed in a voter deletion case. He argued that such evidence cannot be brushed aside using a limited administrative survey.
Meanwhile, hitting back at the Karnataka CM, BJP's Amit Malviya said that the claims made by Rahul Gandhi are fabricated, adding that facts matter, lies don't.
“Don't LIE, Siddaramaiah avare. This study was commissioned by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka through the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority (KMEA), an independent body under the Planning Department of the Government of Karnataka," he wrote on X.
“The agency that conducted the survey was selected through a competitive process by KMEA, not by the Election Commission of India. Rahul Gandhi's “vote chori" claim is a fabricated narrative. These manufactured bogeys are raised to keep himself relevant and firmly in control of Congress affairs, fearing that his leadership would otherwise come under serious question. Facts matter. Lies don't," Malviya added.
Source: News18
Related Posts: Election Commission survey, Karnataka voter awareness, SVEEP programme, electoral malpractice allegations, Rahul Gandhi voter concerns, Vote Chori case, voter roll transparency
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