Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claims on India’s electoral process were recently countered by a statewide survey in Karnataka on voters' trust in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The survey titled 'Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Evaluation of Endline Survey of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of Citizens’, was commissioned by Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar and had a total of 5,100 respondents who were spread across Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru administrative divisions.
The survey revealed that a majority of citizens believe elections in India are free and fair, while public trust in EVMs has also seen a rise. Following the survey, a report was published by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority under the Department of Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics. The report stated that 84.55 per cent citizens believed that the Indian elections were conducted freely and fairly, contradictory to the claims by Rahul Gandhi, who has repeatedly alleged “vote chori” by PM Modi-led BJP government.
As per the survey, 83.61 per cent respondents said that EVMs were trustworthy. The data showed that people’s faith in EVMs had increased as only 77 per cent people believed so in 2023.
“Trust was highest in Kalaburagi division, where 83.24 per cent agreed, and 11.24 per cent strongly agreed, followed by Mysuru division with 70.67 per cent agreeing and 17.92 per cent strongly agreeing," the report mentioned.
BJP Takes 'Tight Slap' Dig
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla described the findings of the survey as a “tight slap" to Rahul Gandhi.
“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," Poonawalla added.