Mangaluru: Senior Congress leader and Minister D K Shivkumar on Monday demanded a ‘report card’ of BJP MP and Dakshina Kannada candidate Nalin Kumar Kateel, for the last 10 years when he was the MP from the constituency.

“Nalin Kumar has not done anything for the development of the district. He was twice given the opportunity and he missed it both the times. Now it is time for the people of Dakshina Kannada to elect Mithun Rai and Congress from the constituency” he said while addressing a press conference at Dakshina Kannada District Congress office in Mangaluru on Monday.

“Mithun is a devotee of lord Hanuman, a young man and a Hindu and a believer of secular principles. If he wins, he will not set the district on fire or speak of it like Nalin Kumar” Shivkumar said while taking a dig at Nalin Kumar’s statement wherein he had threatened to set Dakshina Kannada on fire.

Former MLA Mohiddin Bava, party leaders Ibrahim Kodijal, former Mayors Bhaskar Moily, Mahabala Marla, Shashidhar Hegde and others were present at the press conference.

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.



Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The draft voters’ list prepared as part of the SIR of the electoral roll in Kerala was published by the ECI on Tuesday, where over 24 lakh names have been removed.

Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar, addressing a press conference, said the draft list has been published on the Election Commission’s website and copies have also been handed over to political parties.

As many as 2,54,42,352 voters have been included in the draft list, while the names of 24,08,503 electors were removed after completion of the enumeration stage of the Special Intensive Revision.

Of the deleted names, 6,49,885 pertain to deceased persons, 6,45,548 voters were found to be untraceable, and 8,16,221 voters were identified as having permanently shifted from their registered addresses.

In addition, 1,36,029 duplicate voters and 1,60,830 voters falling under other categories were identified.

ALSO READ: 'Trump travelled on at least eight Epstein flights’: New Epstein files released by US Justice Dept

Before the revision exercise began, there were 2,78,50,855 voters in the electoral rolls in Kerala. The percentage of names removed from the rolls stands at 8.65 per cent.

Kelkar said objections and grievances related to the draft list can be submitted till January 22, and the final electoral roll will be published on February 21.

Kelkar said that as part of the SIR, a voter mapping exercise was also carried out till December 18.

"We were able to complete 93 per cent of the voter mapping by December 18. Most of the unmapped cases were reported from urban and semi-urban areas such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Ernakulam," he said.

He said that the mapping exercise is still continuing.

After the mapping process is completed, electoral registration officers (EROs) will decide on hearings for non-mapped voters.

"Notices will be issued to voters to be heard. The hearings will be decentralised so as not to cause inconvenience to the public," he said.

He said the notices would contain detailed instructions, including the reasons for the hearing and the documents to be produced, and would be served through booth-level officers.

Responding to queries on the high number of untraceable voters, Kelkar said booth-level officers had visited the addresses three times to serve enumeration forms but were unable to locate the voters.

"We made all efforts to trace the voters as directed by the Election Commission," he said.

Kelkar said those whose names are not included in the draft list will have to submit fresh applications for inclusion in the electoral roll.