Karnataka   

Congress questions authenticity of revised voters’ list

BANGALORE: The Congress on Sunday questioned the authenticity of the electoral list (under preparation) by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer and decided to urge the Election Commission to prepare the voters’ list by conducting a door-to door campaign.

Addressing presspersons at the Congress Bhavan here, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president M. Mallikarjun Kharge charged that bogus voters’ list was prepared during elections to the urban local bodies when the the Janata Dal (S)-BJP coalition was in power.

The Kumaraswamy government attempted to win a majority of seats in civic bodies by adding bogus voters in all districts although “the attempt did not yield results.” The Congress won a majority of seats in urban civil bodies.

Mr. Kharge said there were an estimated 60 lakh “bogus voters” in the State. Some eligible voters had been denied the right to exercise their franchise for not possessing identity cards. The deputy commissioners had randomly deleted names of genuine voters to show their work to the Election Commission. The officials, who took eight weeks to enrol eligible voters, took only three days to delete names, he alleged.

Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami and the two commission members would visit Bangalore on Tuesday. They would discuss various issues, including holding of elections, with political parties on Wednesday. The Congress would submit a memorandum to the commission highlighting the presence of bogus voters in the electoral rolls, Mr. Kharge said. Stating that there was no point in conducting elections to the Legislative Assembly without proper and genuine electoral rolls, the KPCC chief said the commission should direct the deputy commissioners and officials to prepare the revised list with due care.

Referring to the State Budget, which would be presented in Parliament on March 7, the Congress leader said Governor Rameshwar Thakur had been urged to provide a people-friendly budget, focussing on construction of houses to the poor. The budget should announce measures to eliminate regional imbalances in the State, he said.

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