Who’s eligible to be included in voters’ list?
Success of an electoral process such as an election is dependent on full participation of citizens. A candidate wins or loses based on the number of votes polled for him. The government also spends a lot of funds trying to create awareness about the significance of voting. But at the same time, a well-planned conspiracy is underway to keep some eligible voters out of the voting list to deny them the right to carry out a democratic duty. This act has active participation from politicians, government officials and even police officers, thus threatening the whole process of democracy.
Earlier, people voted on proxy. They were fake, duplicate votes cast twice or more times by the same person. Someone would usurp the vote of someone else. All this would work at the behest of local rowdies and small time political goondas. But, the act that has been planned now will mostly do away with the names of people from the voting list itself, where they’d vote against the ruling dispensation. Majority of such names are going to be from Muslim and Dalit communities from lower strata of the society. The names of these people were identified along with the names of ‘illegal’ immigrants in Assam, who government claims had sneaked in from Bangladesh. NRC draft report is out now making it easy to identify the locals and immigrants.
Lakhs of people have been marked as not-citizens-of-India. Opposition parties claim the main agenda of the government in this case is to keep those people away who are presumably against the ruling BJP, more than identifying the foreigners living in India. Assam is shaken by the kind of mistakes that have been noticed in NRC draft. Some people have even committed suicide over gory future. Protests are being carried out against this measure. Many Indian citizens have also been named as immigrants.
Unfortunately this pattern is being replicated in Karnataka too, and has already been deemed a partial success. Among the 2.8 lakh applications submitted to be included in the voters’ list, more than 62% have been rejected for reasons that the applicants are not Indian citizens. And majority among these are Dalits and Muslims apart from lower caste people. Many don’t even know their applications have been rejected. Many with valid Aadhar card and electricity bill have also been rejected with the aggrieved not even being given a choice of questioning this rejection of their applications. The deserving people should not be denied participation in democracy, is the core value of the constitution. People of this country have at least a right to question why their application was rejected. And the officers owe them an answer.
The government has all the rights to make arrangements to deport illegal immigrants from any other country into any part of the nation, including Karnataka. There should be no compromise on that. There are charges that Bangladeshis have made Karnataka their home. But many people have encouraged them to render their services because Bangladeshi workers are available for lesser labour charges over local ones. They work in estates and coffee plantations. If this charge of Bangladeshis having entered Karnataka is true, Coffee and tea plantations should be raided and the labourers from Bangladesh, if found, have to be deported to their lands. But in their pretext, it is rather unfair to cheat the locals. If people are coming to Karnataka from Bangladesh, this is nothing but a breach of security and intelligence. Illegal activities in the border are aiding this.
Hence, officers who allow such pilferage of people across borders should be identified and should be penalized. But at the same time, denying rightful citizenship to someone with all documents and due identity as required by law, would be to deny him/her the right to live. Officers who’d do this live right among us. Their job is to keep the dissident voices out to win elections for their favourite people.
A coalition government which claims to be secular has occupied the office today. The government would obviously know by now that the names have been deleted. The government by now has to make efforts to understand who is behind this and who would the act finally benefit. Instead of regretting over the spilt milk, the government should immediately pay attention to undue amendments and removal of names from the list of the state.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Priyanka Gandhi wins Wayanad LS seat in Kerala with margin of over 4.1 lakh votes
Wayanad(Kerala), Nov 23: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday cruised to her maiden electoral victory, from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, with a margin of over 4.1 lakh votes against CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, according to figures released by the Election Commission.
Priyanka got 6,22,338 votes which was less than the 6,47,445 votes received by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in Wayanad in April this year, but her victory margin of 4,10,931 was more than his lead of 3,64,422 votes, despite the decline in turnout in the Wayanad bypoll.
The LS poll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was close to 74 per cent in April, but had declined to 65 per cent in the by-election in November.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Wayanad, CPI's Annie Raja had secured second place with 2,83,023 votes, while BJP's K. Surendran finished third with 1,41,045 votes.
However, both fronts were unable to replicate their performance in the bypoll, despite a reduced voter turnout in the hill constituency.
Mokeri got 2,11,407 and BJP-led NDA's Navya Haridas came third with 1,09,939 votes.
Close to the announcement of the final counting results, Priyanka, in a post on social media platform X, thanked the people of Wayanad for electing her as their representative to the Parliament.
"My dearest sisters and brothers of Wayanad, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the trust you have placed in me. I will make sure that over time, you truly feel this victory has been your victory and the person you chose to represent you understands your hopes and dreams and fights for you as one of your own. I look forward to being your voice in Parliament!
"Thank you for giving me this honour and even more for the immense love you have given me," she said.
In her post, Priyanka also thanked her colleagues in the UDF, leaders from across Kerala, workers, volunteers and everyone else who supported her and worked "incredibly hard" in her poll campaign, by "tolerating" her "12 hour a day (no food, no rest) car journeys, and for fighting like true soldiers for the ideals we all believe in".
"To my mother, Robert and my two jewels- Raihan and Miraya, no gratitude is ever enough for the love and courage you give me. And to my brother, Rahul, you are the bravest of them all… thank you for showing me the way and having my back, always," she said in her post on X.
My dearest sisters and brothers of Wayanad,
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) November 23, 2024
I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the trust you have placed in me. I will make sure that over time, you truly feel this victory has been your victory and the person you chose to represent you understands your hopes and dreams and…
