Bengaluru, Nov 5 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday said the state government would initiate a police investigation against those who allegedly encouraged electoral fraud and misused Form 7 applications to get voters’ names deleted from electoral rolls.

Addressing the INDIA Bloc’s ‘Stop Vote Theft, Save the Nation’ protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, Shivakumar alleged that the BJP had indulged in electoral fraud and said legal action would be taken against those responsible.

“We are not fighting only against the Election Commission but also against the conspiracy of the BJP operating behind it. We are committed to protecting the votes of ordinary people. I want to tell all Booth Level Officers (BLOs) appointed by the Election Commission that CCTV footage is available showing who encouraged vote theft and who brought the applications. Cases will be registered in this regard, and justice will be delivered to society,” he said.

Accusing the BJP of electoral fraud, Shivakumar said legal action should be taken against the party. “In a democracy, our vote is our right and our vote is our life. We have gathered here to fight for our rights,” he said.

He described Freedom Park as a witness to historic struggles and political changes in the country. Recalling an earlier campaign against alleged violations of voters’ rights in Mahadevapura, Gandhinagar and other parts of Karnataka, he said the agitation had been launched from the same venue along with Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah and had sent a strong message across the country.

Shivakumar alleged that during the previous BJP government, the Chilume organisation had been used in Bengaluru to give Booth Level Officer powers to party workers and facilitate the deletion of lakhs of votes and the inclusion of new voters through irregularities.

Congress leaders had travelled to Delhi and met the Election Commission to fight for the protection of voters’ rights in Karnataka, he said. Despite these efforts, the people of the state gave the Congress 136 seats and an opportunity to form the government, he added.

Alleging that the BJP had misused the Election Commission to violate voters’ rights not only in Karnataka but also in Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Haryana and Tamil Nadu, Shivakumar accused the poll panel of acting like a worker of a political party instead of functioning in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution.

Referring to the recent protest in Delhi, Shivakumar said the manner in which young men and women were treated was shameful.

“The country’s youth have the strength to fight against vote theft. The history of the Congress party is the history of the country. The party is committed to ensuring equal opportunities and justice for people belonging to all sections of society,” he said.

He said the denial of an opportunity to opposition leaders to meet the Election Commission reflected the state of democracy in the country. Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and other INDIA Bloc leaders were raising their voices to protect voters’ rights, while the Election Commission was allegedly laying the foundation for electoral fraud, he charged.

Shivakumar said a team led by Prakash Raj and Noor Sridhar had conducted surveys in various constituencies and submitted a report exposing several alleged irregularities. The team had visited hundreds of constituencies and documented instances of injustice at individual polling booths, he said, adding that the government had taken note of the findings and initiated action.

He alleged that Form 7 applications had been printed at the BJP office and sent to constituency-level leaders along with voters’ names, voter identity card numbers and telephone numbers. The applications were reportedly prepared in such a way that only the name of the person submitting the application had to be filled in, he said.

“This was allegedly part of a conspiracy to delete 10,000 to 20,000 votes belonging to Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and minorities in each constituency,” he said.

Shivakumar alleged that attempts had been made to delete thousands of votes in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and several other constituencies, including the constituency represented by Sowmya Reddy in Bengaluru. He said a major irregularity had been averted because party workers had alerted the leadership in advance.

Recalling his protest at the Election Commission’s office along with Cabinet colleagues over the alleged misuse of Form 7, Shivakumar said he had insisted that he would not return until action was taken and had even threatened to stay overnight at the office.

Following the protest, the Election Commission had instructed officials not to consider applications received through Form 7, he said. The Commission had also been asked to facilitate the inclusion of new voters and initiate legal action over the alleged misuse of the application process, he added.

Shivakumar alleged that after cases were registered over the misuse of applications, BJP leaders had approached the Election Commission and police officials to protect their party workers.

“An attempt to take away the voting rights of citizens is an attack on democracy. Depriving people of their right to vote is equivalent to murdering democracy. There is no difference between vote theft and serious offences such as attempted murder,” he said.

Claiming that 65 lakh votes had been deleted in Bihar, around one crore in Karnataka and 25 lakh in Haryana, he criticised the Centre for refusing to acknowledge the alleged failures. He also said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process was not delivering justice to voters.

Speaking to the media after the protest, Shivakumar said the government and the Congress would continue their agitation against the manner in which the SIR process was being conducted.

“Our position on the SIR process is clear and firm. Our principal demand is that the names of voters deleted from the electoral rolls should be restored, except those of deceased persons,” he said.

He said all voters whose names had been removed from the electoral rolls should be given justice and that the party leadership had already taken a firm stand on the issue.

“The agitation will continue until justice is delivered to voters who have suffered injustice during the SIR process. There is no question of withdrawing the protest until our demands are fulfilled,” he added.

–IANS

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