Karnataka Minister Resigns Amid Voter List Controversy

Resignation Following Voter List Allegations

On Monday, KN Rajanna, the Karnataka Minister for Cooperation, stepped down from his position in the state Cabinet, as reported by a local news outlet.

This resignation occurred shortly after Rajanna commented on alleged irregularities in the voter list, which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed were present in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bengaluru Central parliamentary constituency, despite the Congress party being in power.

Rajanna noted that Congress leaders did not voice any concerns during the draft preparation of the voter list, stating, “These irregularities did take place. It is a shame that we did not monitor it.”

On August 7, Rahul Gandhi asserted that his party had dedicated six months to scrutinizing the electoral rolls in the central Bengaluru Assembly constituency and identified discrepancies involving over 100,000 names.

He accused the Election Commission of colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party, highlighting issues such as 11,965 duplicate entries, 40,009 voters with invalid addresses, and 10,454 bulk voters registered at a single location.

Gandhi also called for an investigation into the alleged voter fraud in Mahadevapura, urging the Karnataka government to take action against Election Commission officials responsible for the inaccuracies.

Since May 2023, Karnataka has been governed by the Congress party, and Gandhi previously claimed that the party should have won more seats in the Lok Sabha elections than it did.