Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Friday (September 05, 2025), defending the decision to hold local body elections from ballot papers that this is a decision taken on the basis of experience. The Congress government of Karnataka on Thursday decided to recommend the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold all the future panchayats and urban local body elections in the state with ballots instead of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).
Siddaramaiah told reporters here on Friday, ‘Our intention is to use the ballot. Based on our experience, we have decided that elections should be held with ballot papers. There are examples where many countries have conducted elections through ballot papers instead of EVMs.
BJP attack on Karnataka government
Giving information about the decision of the cabinet on Thursday, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil described the lack of trust and credibility of the people towards EVMs as the reason for this decision. Citing allegations of discrepancies in voter lists and ‘vote theft’, the cabinet has also decided to authorize the State Election Commission to prepare voter list for local body elections, revision and re -prepare if needed.
Targeting the Congress government of Karnataka, the opposition BJP on Friday claimed that the state cabinet decision to use ballots instead of EVMs in the upcoming local body elections is self-attested that the ruling party has come to power through ‘vote theft’.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister targeted BJP
In the urging the 136 Congress MLAs and 9 Congress MPs of the state to resign, BJP state president BY Vijayendra said, “Let them win elections again or accept that they have come to power through votes theft.”
On this, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivkumar retaliated and questioned why the BJP is worried or frightened? Talking to reporters here, he said, ‘This is the decision of the Karnataka government, why is the BJP worried? The government can conduct local body elections, the law made during their (BJP) term provides, ballot or EVM can be used.
Why BJP is afraid of the government’s decision?
He said that our government has decided to use ballots during local body elections, why are you (BJP) frightened? ‘ Comparing the BJP’s opposition to the ‘thief’s beard’ idiom, the Deputy Chief Minister said, “I have not want to discuss what happened during the parliamentary elections.”
He said that this decision of the state government to conduct elections through Matra Patra is for the local body elections and the Election Commission of India (ECI) will take a decision for the assembly and parliamentary elections. Asked if the election of five local bodies in Bengaluru will be held by ballot papers, Bangalore in -charge minister Shivkumar said, “The government’s decision is in relation to the local body elections.”
Rahul Gandhi made a big claim
After the defeat in the assembly elections in states like Haryana and Maharashtra, the Congress has expressed doubts over the credibility and election results of EVMs. The party has demanded to conduct elections through ballot papers.
Amid controversy over the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently claimed that his party had discovered the manner of ‘vote theft’ by studying a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka, resulting in a big political controversy.
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