Majority of Karnataka voters believe elections are free and fair, a survey that could deal a blow to Congress:

News Topical, Digital Desk : A study conducted by a Karnataka government agency has found that a majority of voters across all four administrative divisions of the state believe that elections in India are conducted free and fair and that EVMs give accurate results.

The findings are significant in the context of the Congress's campaign against "vote theft," led by top party leader Rahul Gandhi, who is targeting the ruling BJP at the Centre and the Election Commission.

The survey is part of a study conducted by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority (KMEA). The survey report for August 2025 was recently made public.

KMEA functions under the Department of Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics and is the state's apex body for promoting evidence-based policymaking. This study was commissioned by the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka to assess the impact of the Voter Education and Electoral Participation Programme.

According to the report, 91.31 percent of voters agreed that elections in India are conducted freely and fairly. There were also 6.76 percent who expressed neutral views.

The survey polled 5,100 voters across 102 assembly constituencies in Karnataka, covering rural, urban and reserved constituencies across four divisions of the state: Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru.

The findings come at a time when the Karnataka government has proposed holding all panchayat and urban local body elections in the state through ballot papers, citing alleged decline in public confidence in EVMs.