Bengaluru, Sept 24 (IANS) Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President B.K. Hariprasad on Thursday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Abhay Patil had written to authorities seeking deletion of the names of 2,500 voters in Belagavi, and claimed that those voters belonged to the minority community.
Hariprasad also released documents in connection with his charges.
He demanded strict action against those allegedly attempting to have voters’ names deleted from the electoral rolls.
Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, Hariprasad said that he had documents to support his allegation and claimed that the Election Commission had itself told the concerned persons that it could not delete voters’ names in the manner sought.
“We have been saying that voter fraud is taking place. The Election Commission has written a letter in this regard, saying that it cannot remove voters’ names in this manner. Applications were submitted seeking deletion of the votes of 50 people living in a single house. The Election Commission has also said that submitting a bogus application is punishable,” he added.
Hariprasad demanded that those who had submitted applications in Form 7 seeking deletion of voters’ names should be arrested and subjected to legal action.
“I demand that those who have submitted Form 7 applications for deleting names from the electoral rolls be arrested and legal action be taken against them. We have the letter written by MLA Abhay Patil. Who gave him the authority to write a letter seeking deletion of other people’s votes? The MLA has written for bulk deletion, allegedly going beyond the law,” he alleged.
He said the Congress would submit a complaint to the Election Commission regarding the matter.
Hariprasad also claimed that applications had been submitted seeking deletion of around 7,000 names and alleged that the applications did not carry signatures.
“The Election Commission should take action against this. Those who have misused Form 7 should be punished,” he said.
He also alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was not being conducted properly and accused the BJP and RSS of attempting to deprive voters opposed to the BJP of their voting rights.
“The real face of the BJP is coming out. This is a small example of the alleged attempt by Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove 13 crore votes from the electoral rolls. Their workers and supporters are doing this work, and everyone should remain alert,” Hariprasad alleged.
He also claimed that the SIR exercise was aimed at affecting the voting rights of genuine voters opposed to the BJP.
The allegations come amid the ongoing electoral-roll revision exercise in Karnataka, during which political parties have raised concerns over the inclusion and deletion of names from voter lists.
Abhay Patil is the BJP MLA representing Belagavi South Assembly constituency.
–IANS
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