People's response to Congress is higher than expectations: Harris Baikampady
Mangaluru: The response for Congress candidate in Mangaluru Lok Sabha constituency Mithun Rai is getting is far higher than the expectations, Mangaluru North Assembly constituency campaigning committee President Harris Baikampady said.
Speaking to 'Varthabharati' he said, "In the recently held Assembly polls, Congress candidate Mohiuddin Bava secured only 72,000 votes. But, now we are campaigning to win with 5,000 vote margin in this constituency."
"We have already completed one round of door to door campaigning. We have presented the achievements of the state government and the failures of the central government and Nalin Kumar Kateel, before the voters. We have requested to consider development issues rather than emotional issues. Everywhere, displeasure is being expressed over the functioning of BJP and the MP," he added.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, who has been MP for the last 10 years, has done nothing for the development of the Muslim majority areas of this constituency. No promise has been fulfilled. Though the Muslims were disgruntled for not getting Lok Sabha ticket even after several Muslim organizations demanded for the ticket, now they are happy as a young and enthusiastic candidate is contesting the election. This time, the people have decided that the BJP should taste the defeat. This also has strengthened the Congress," Harris Baikampady said.
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Draft electoral roll published in Kerala as part of SIR; over 24 lakh names removed
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.
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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.
