The CID investigating vote theft allegations in the Aland constituency of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections has arrested Bapi Adya, a 27-year-old man from Nadia district, West Bengal, sources said on Friday. He was taken into custody on Wednesday and brought to Bengaluru for interrogation.
According to the investigation, Adya had filed requests to delete numerous voters’ names in the Aland constituency. Congress MLA B.R. Patil claimed that most of these requests targeted minority and backward caste voters. Following complaints lodged by Minister Priyank Kharge and Patil, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer ordered a status quo to prevent unauthorized deletions. Patil had won the election with a margin of approximately 10,000 votes.
Earlier, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi held a press conference on September 18, highlighting the ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) allegations and criticizing the Election Commission for failing to properly investigate the issue.
CID sources said the arrest was also based on a money trail linking Adya’s bank account, indicating potential financial transactions tied to the manipulation of the voter list.
