Bengaluru, 16 Jan

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday flagged media reports claiming that indelible ink used to mark voters during the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls could be wiped off easily, calling it another "troubling chapter" in what he described as 'Vote Chori' (vote theft).

Stressing that democracy survives only when every vote is sacred, Siddaramaiah said the credibility of its eletoral safeguards should not be compromised.

Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were held after nine years on Thursday.

The BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena were ahead in the high-stakes BMC polls as per early trends, as the counting of votes for 227 wards are underway on Friday.

In a post on X, Siddaramaiah said, "Today, media reports and viral social media videos from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls show so-called indelible ink being wiped off easily with sanitiser, acetone and other agents, raising grave concerns about electoral credibility - concerns echoed across Maharashtra and beyond."

He further said, "this is not an isolated glitch -- it’s another troubling chapter in the larger story of 'Vote Chori', where genuine questions are met with denial, deflection, or silence, and trust in democratic institutions is eroded."

"Weakening basic safeguards and dismissing citizens' concerns doesn’t protect democracy - it damages it. The Election Commission must act with transparency, accountability and corrective measures now," he added.

The Congress has been campaigning nationwide against alleged ‘vote chori’, led by top party leader Rahul Gandhi, targeting the BJP-led government at the Centre and the Election Commission of India.