Thousands of names belonging to minority communities missing from electoral rolls
Bengaluru: Thousands of voters from households of minority communities in Karnataka, who have EPIC, are missing from the voters’ list, according to a random survey undertaken by a team of volunteers from the Congress. They claim that only one or two votes per family figure on the list.
Anwar Pasha, a resident of J.C. Nagar in Shivajinagar Assembly constituency, has nine members in his family. All of them have Voter IDs (EPIC) and had voted during the 2013 elections. This time, only one vote from the family figures on the electoral rolls.
This is not a lone case. According to a The Hindu report, R. Roshan Baig, area MLA, claims that 14,591 households in Shivajinagar had just one or two votes on the voters’ list.
Similar surveys were done in 49 constituencies across the State and it was found that 6,22,056 households showed single occupancy on the list, although the families had five or more members each.
“Overall, names of nearly 18 lakh eligible voters have been left out of the electoral rolls, especially in minority-dominated areas,” alleged S.R. Mehroz Khan, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee secretary.
Mr. Khan, along with Mr. Baig, Syed Nasir Hussain, Rajya Sabha member; Brijesh Kalappa, AICC spokesperson; M.N. Suraj Hegde, former AICC secretary; and Naseer Ahmed, chairperson of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission; met the Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar on Monday and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
‘None deleted suo motu’
Sanjiv Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, said not a single vote had been deleted suo motu.
“During our special summary revision, a total of 3,67,445 names of dead persons, 6,10,783 names that were repeating on the list and 4,88,140 names that had been shifted were deleted. There is nothing visible to indicate that names of 18 lakh eligible voters have been deleted as alleged by the Congress delegation. We will, however, inquire into the issue,” he said.
He added that people still had time, till April 14, to get themselves enrolled if their name is not on the list.
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RSS man's defamation case against Rahul: Key witness unavailable, hearing adjourned to Dec 20
Thane (PTI): A court in Bhiwandi in Thane district on Saturday adjourned the hearing in the criminal defamation case filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker to December 20 due to non-availability of a crucial prosecution witness.
Advocate Narayan Iyer, counsel for Rahul Gandhi, confirmed the adjournment, stating that the witness, Ashok Saykar, currently Deputy Superintendent of Police in Barshi in Solapur, could not remain present due to personal reasons.
Saykar's evidence is now likely to be recorded on December 29.
His testimony is considered key because he, as police sub inspector in 2014, conducted the preliminary inquiry into the private defamation matter under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
It was on the basis of Saykar's submitted report that the court subsequently issued process (summons) against Rahul Gandhi under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The criminal defamation case was filed by local RSS worker Rajesh Kunte following a speech given by Rahul Gandhi at an election rally near Bhiwandi on March 6, 2014.
The case stems from the Congress leader's alleged statement that "the RSS people killed (Mahatma) Gandhi."
The matter is being heard by Bhiwandi Joint Civil Judge, Junior Division, P M Kolse.
The hearing had previously been adjourned on November 15 after the complainant's counsel, Advocate Prabodh Jaywant, moved an application seeking permission to examine Saykar, who had submitted the probe report to the court.
The matter was originally scheduled for November 29 but was deferred to December 6 after Rahul Gandhi's legal team sought an adjournment citing their non-availability. The proceedings will now resume on December 20.
