Deletion of voters: Karnataka Congress files one more plaint

Congress on Monday filed one more complaint with the Election Commission on "illegal and deliberate" deletion of voters from the electoral rolls.

Apparently, 6,670 names of voters are listed for deletion in the Aland Assembly constituency, which Congress said was the fallout of the Votegate scandal involving nonprofit Chilume Trust.

Also Read | Congress poaches former BJP, JD(S) lawmakers

“After the malicious design of tampering with voter list by Chilume Trust came to light in Bengaluru, similar irregularities are being noticed in many assembly constituencies of Karnataka. This, too, seems to be a part of a broader conspiracy of the ruling party to dissuade our voters,” stated a petition signed by Congress leaders Priyank Kharge, former Aland MLA BR Patil and former MLC Ramesh Babu.

In Aland, at least 150 voters have filed written complaints that unauthorised applications have been submitted seeking deletion of their names. “Upon verification by our booth level agents, it came to light that the mobile numbers of people who requested for deletion are from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand etc,” the petition claimed.

In some cases, applications for deletion have been submitted for 70 voters from a single mobile number “while the real voter had no information”, Congress said.

“Thousands of voters in each assembly constituency have been removed, changed or deleted for the purpose of helping a particular political party thereby jeopardising transparent and free elections,” Congress said, demanding a “thorough investigation”.

Last month, Shivajinagar Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad claimed that nearly 8,000 names of Muslim and Christian voters are being deleted in his constituency.