Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge questions survey on voters' confidence in EVMs: 'What do you expect?'

Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge

The statewide survey on voters' confidence on EVMs in Karnataka has become the latest flashpoint between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party with Priyank Kharge questioning the agency that conducted the survey.

According to a Deccan Herald report, the survey was commissioned by Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar and covered 5,100 respondents across 102 Assembly constituencies in the administrative divisions of Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi’s EVM claims countered by Congress govt survey in Karnataka, BJP reacts

The Knowledge-Attitude-Practice survey – by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority, which is under the federally-administered Department of Planning and Statistics – said it found 'overwhelming public trust in EVMs' during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Nearly 84 per cent expressed confidence in EVMs and a similar number said the election was 'free and fair'.

After the survey was released, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told News18 that the Congress government in Karnataka had delivered a “tight slap" to the lies spread by Rahul Gandhi and called him the “leader of propaganda".

“This is the same Rahul Gandhi who has no problems with the Election Commission when Congress wins in Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal, but when he loses elections, he blames the poll body. Dosh deta me nahi beta me hai (The problem lies with the son, not the data) but he does not want to accept it because he is living in a delusion," he said.

In September last year, Rahul Gandhi had accused the Election Commission of engineering mass deletion of Opposition supporters from voter list before the 2023 Karnataka election. The campaign began after Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge claimed there was evidence of vote-deletion attempts.

Retorting to BJP's remarks, Priyank Kharge on Friday questioned the agency that designed and conducted the survey, and stressed it had not been sanctioned or ordered by the state government.

"First, this is not sanctioned by the state government. Apparently the Election Commission requested the State Election Commission… sought the help of an NGO which is run by Balakrishnan or Balasubramanian who, if I am not mistaken, happens to be the author of a book for the Prime Minister and works with the PM's Office very closely. What do you expect," Kharge said, as reported by NDTV.

"What the BJP has to explain is the 'vote chori' in Kalaburagi… in Aland…" he said referring to claims by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi that the EC and BJP colluded to carry out mass deletion of voters before the 2023 the Karnataka election and 2024 Lok Sabha poll.