Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah criticized the selective use of a recent Election Commission survey to counter allegations by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He pointed out that the survey, conducted under the Election Commission framework, was misrepresented to create a misleading narrative. Siddaramaiah emphasized that the survey was an administrative evaluation of voter awareness, not a political opinion poll.
The Chief Minister highlighted that the survey, conducted in May 2025, aimed to assess voter education efforts and was not intended to address allegations of electoral malpractice. He questioned the validity of using pre-allegation data to dismiss post-allegation evidence, calling it intellectual manipulation. Siddaramaiah also raised concerns about the statistical significance of drawing broad conclusions from a survey that interviewed a very small percentage of voters.
Siddaramaiah flagged a potential conflict of interest in the survey, noting that it was conducted by an NGO founded by an individual with ties to the government. He criticized the misrepresentation of Rahul Gandhi’s stance, clarifying that Gandhi sought transparency from the Election Commission on various electoral processes. The Chief Minister emphasized that a limited survey could not overshadow criminal evidence or unanswered questions related to electoral malpractice.
The survey, monitored by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority, revealed high voter confidence in the electoral process and EVMs. While trust in the electoral system was reported to be high, concerns over inducements and the influence of money and power persisted in certain regions. Notably, Kalaburagi, the native place of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, raised specific concerns.
