Congress stalling SIR to protect bogus voters, says Basavaraj Bommai
You don’t have any Active Subscription.
Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription
Congress leaders are trying to stall the Election Commission (EC) of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, only because they want to protect bogus voters, Basavaraj Bommai, MP and BJP leader, said in Haveri on Sunday.
“For several decades, Congress candidates have won elections by ensuring bogus voters cast their votes. There have been instances of a single person voting in two places, using the names of deceased individuals to exercise their franchise or impersonating shifted voters. But now, they are facing trouble as the ECI is trying to clean up the electoral rolls using the SIR. That is why Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar staged a drama outside the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer. All this is aimed at protecting its fake votes,” he told reporters.
“The SIR process in the State was going on smoothly. Initially, we raised objections to Congress members filling out applications in mosques, but subsequent procedures were supposed to wrap up smoothly. The draft voter list was scheduled to be released on October 8. But now, Congress members are creating confusion by staging a protest in front of the election office. This is nothing but a desperate attempt to stall the SIR,’’ Mr. Bommai said.
The former Chief Minister said that, as per law, the State government had no direct authority to file cases against objectors under the SIR. “The entire responsibility of preparing and updating the electoral rolls lies with the EC officers, but the Chief Minister has asked all BLAs to file FIRs against objectors. This is not acceptable,” he said.
Responding to a query about AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge demanding the cancellation of all elections held after the SIR, Mr. Bommai said that Congress leaders were desperate, as they had lost everywhere. “Instead of making lame excuses, they should introspect on why their party is losing,” he said.
In response to a query regarding the demand to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from his post, Mr. Bommai said that the Congress and its alliance partners could not digest the fast pace of the country’s development. “They want to instigate unrest in the country by any means possible, to which the people of the country will not pay any heed,” he said.
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
