Targeted deletion of minority, SC votes in Aland constituency in 2023 polls: Congress MLA B R Patil
New Delhi/Bengaluru(PTI): Congress MLA B R Patil, representing Aland constituency in Karnataka, on Thursday alleged that a targeted deletion of minority, scheduled caste and backward caste votes occurred during the 2023 state assembly election.
The MLA had won the Assembly election with a margin of over 10,000 votes in 2023.
During a press conference in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday cited the example of the Aland constituency.
He said the top 10 booths with maximum deletions were Congress strongholds. Congress won eight out of the 10 booths in 2018. This was not a coincidence; this was a planned operation, he alleged.
Later, speaking to reporters in Delhi, Patil said, “When I learnt about it (deletion of votes), Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge and I went to the Election Commission and the Deputy Commissioner and we held a press conference.”
The MLA claimed that there was a conspiracy to defeat him. A request under Form-7 of the Election Commission was sent by someone to delete voters.
“After this, the returning officer carried out a verification to find out any discrepancy or confusion. The officer ordered a status quo. If the status quo was not maintained and 6,994 votes were deleted then I would have lost the election. This is a big issue,” he added.
He said the request was made to delete “my voters in my constituency and not other voters”.
“The attack was made on my workers and my supporters in the area where I had a stronghold. Most of the targets were minorities, scheduled caste and backward castes – the Congress vote bank,” the MLA said.
Patil said if a thorough investigation is carried out, more details would come out.
“But the investigation is not happening. I have been going to the officials, discussing with them and pursuing it,” the Congress legislator said.
He claimed that there is evidence available since the complainant is the returning officer himself, and based on his complaint, the FIR was registered.
The returning officer is part of the Election Commission. He has to answer to the complaint lodged by him, Patil underlined.
“Since the ECI is not replying, it raises doubt that they are also at fault. Who is behind it, whose conspiracy is it? It must be investigated,” the MLA said.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is protecting those stealing votes, Patil said, “Yes. It’s true.”
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STT hike in F&O aimed at curbing speculative trade, protect small investors: Sitharaman
New Delhi (PTI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the increase in STT in F&O is aimed at curbing high-risk speculative trade and discouraging gullible investors who were losing huge amounts of money in the derivatives market.
The Budget has proposed an increase in the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent.
STT on options premium and exercise of options are proposed to be raised to 0.15 per cent from the present rate of 0.1 per cent and 0.125 per cent, respectively.
Addressing a post-budget conference, Sitharaman said the government is not against derivative trade, but wants small investors, who are facing huge losses, to stay away from the speculative F&O market.
"This nominal increase is purely aimed at speculation, only to deter them, to discourage them. We are not against it (F&O trade), but small investors are facing losses, so how can we be quiet, so it (STT hike on F&O) is to deter such investments," Sitharaman said.
According to studies by Sebi, over 90 per cent of retail investors' trades in the F&O segment lead to losses, and the capital markets regulator has also taken steps to reduce volumes in the past.
Market regulator Sebi has also cautioned small and retail investors against trading in the F&O segment, underscoring the need for responsible investing.
Addressing questions on the intention behind the STT hike, Revenue Secretary Arvind Shrivastava said it has been done to discourage speculative tendencies and handle systemic risk in the derivatives market.
"The government's intention is to discourage speculative tendencies, and the increase in rate is essentially in that direction. So, it is meant to essentially handle the systemic risk in derivative markets," he added.
Shrivastava said even after this increase, the rates of STT will remain modest compared to the volume of the transactions that are happening.
The hike in STT is aimed squarely at high-volume derivative trading, rather than the cash equity market, and is expected to meaningfully increase transaction costs for active and short-term trading strategies.
Sitharaman further said the highest-ever capital expenditure of Rs 12.22 lakh crore announced for 2026-27 works out to be 4.4 per cent of GDP.
The capital expenditure for FY27 is 10 per cent higher than the Rs 11.11 lakh crore budgeted capex announced in FY26.
"We have announced that Rs 12.22 lakh crore is coming through public expenditure. This time it is 4.4 per cent of GDP, which is the highest at least in the last 10 years, it could even be the highest if you were to take data from earlier periods," Sitharaman said.
The capital expenditure was 2.5 per cent of GDP in 2021-22 and around 4 per cent of GDP in 2024-25. The government's capital expenditure was Rs 2.35 lakh crore in 2015-16.
She further said that the 4.3 per cent fiscal deficit target for FY27 is "realistic and responsible". The Budget has proposed to lower the fiscal deficit to 4.3 per cent in FY27, from 4.4 per cent in FY26.
Asked about the budget not making any big announcement for poll-bound states, Sitharaman said there are various announcements, including industrial corridors across the eastern and western parts of India. "So there is enough to cover election states and all other states," she said.
