कर्नाटक सरकार की स्टडी में दावा: 91% लोग मानते हैं चुनाव निष्पक्ष; वोट चोरी के आरोपों पर भाजपा बोली- यह कांग्रेस के मुंह पर तमाचा

Rahul Gandhi held a press conference for the second time on September 18, 2025 on the allegation of ‘vote theft’.

A study by a Karnataka government agency has claimed that 91% of the people of the state believe that elections in India are conducted in a free and fair manner and EVMs give accurate results. This report has been published by Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority (KMEA).

This survey has come at a time when Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is continuously accusing BJP of ‘vote theft’ in many states. He has also claimed vote theft in Kalaburagi, Karnataka. There is a Congress government in Karnataka. In such a situation, BJP has hit back at Rahul regarding the survey report.

BJP leader R. Ashok wrote on social media platform X, ‘People trust elections, EVMs and people trust the democratic process of India. This survey is a big slap on the face of Congress. Because while citizens are showing confidence, Congress is expressing doubt.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said, ‘Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of vote theft and the Election Commission have been proved false by his own government’s survey in Karnataka.’ Poonawala also said that the allegations made in Bihar were denied by Congress leaders Tariq Anwar and Shakeel Ahmed Khan.

According to sources, the KMEA report regarding the elections was prepared in August 2025. However, this report has been made public recently. Its title is ‘Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Evaluation of Endline Survey of Knowledge, Aptitude and Practice (KAP) of Citizens.’

This study was conducted to assess the results of the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) program implemented by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka. This survey was conducted in 102 assembly constituencies of 34 electoral districts of Karnataka.

A total of 5,100 voters from rural, urban and reserved seats participated in it. The survey covered all four divisions of the state – Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru. According to the report, 91.31% of the people surveyed across all divisions believed that elections in India are conducted in a free and fair manner.

Overall 69.39% agreed and 14.22% strongly agreed that EVMs give correct results. This also includes 6.76% people who gave neutral opinion. The report said that maximum confidence regarding the elections was seen in Kalaburagi division. Here 84.67% agreed and 10.19% completely agreed.

This was followed by Belagavi division, where 69.62% agreed and 19.24% strongly agreed. Confidence was also high in Mysuru division, where 72.08% agreed and 15.08% strongly agreed. Bengaluru division had the lowest level of overall agreement at 7.17%, although 67.11% people agreed.

According to the report, the proportion of people giving neutral opinion was highest in Bengaluru at 12.50%, which is more than other divisions. Disagreement was also comparatively higher in the Bengaluru division. Here 9.67% expressed disagreement and 3.56% expressed complete disagreement.

However, the level of dissent remained very low in Kalaburagi division. According to the study, a large number of people in all divisions trust EVMs. The report said that the highest level of trust in EVMs was seen in Kalaburagi division, where 83.24% agreed and 11.24% completely agreed.

This was followed by Mysuru division, where 70.67% agreed and 17.92% strongly agreed. Trust also remained strong in Belagavi division, where 63.90% agreed and 21.43% strongly agreed. The overall consensus regarding EVM was lowest in Bengaluru division at 9.28%, although 63.67% agreed.

Here also the proportion of people giving neutral opinion was the highest at 15.67%, which is much higher than other divisions. According to the report, the total disagreement stood at 8.75%. This ratio was found to be slightly higher in Belagavi and Bengaluru divisions compared to Kalaburagi and Mysuru.

About 50% of the participants in the study were women. According to the report, on the question of whether women should seek advice from male members or elders before voting, opinions remained divided across divisions. Overall, 34.57% agreed with this idea and 3.14% strongly agreed.

At the same time, a large number of respondents expressed disagreement (37.86%) or complete disagreement (13.78%). The study also raised concerns about the increasing influence of money in elections. A total of 44.90% respondents agreed that the use of money in elections is increasing, while 4.65% completely agreed with it.

On the question of luring people to influence voters, 16.33% respondents said that they had experienced such attempts. According to the report, the most common inducement among 833 such respondents was benefits from government schemes, which constituted 42.26% of the total cases. After this, there were promises of providing jobs, whose share was 34.09%.