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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21 Congress MLAs leave for foreign tour ahead of budget; leaders say trip is personal
Bengaluru (PTI): At least 21 Congress legislators in Karnataka left for a foreign tour ahead of the state budget on Wednesday, as a power tussle continues within the ruling party.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is set to present a record 17th budget on March 6, soon after the legislative session begins. The session will continue until March 27.
It is learnt that the MLAs travelling abroad are considered loyal to the CM.
According to Congress sources, 11 MLAs flew out on Tuesday, while 10 others are scheduled to leave for various foreign destinations with their families.
Sources said C Puttaranga Shetty, B Devendrappa, H D Thammaiah, Hampanagouda Badarli, B M Nagaraj, A Vasanth Kumar, D Thimmaiah and Sharanagouda Patil Bayyapur are among those travelling abroad.
The legislators are touring Australia and New Zealand. They will first fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then continue their journey to Australia and New Zealand, sources added.
The MLAs clarified that the trip is personal and has nothing to do with the party or the government.
"We are going on a private tour. It’s just my family and me," Thammaiah told reporters at the Kempegowda International Airport here.
The Chikkamagaluru MLA said the decision had been taken during the Belagavi legislative session.
"Those interested in the tour are travelling. We often go abroad, but this is the first time it has made news," Thammaiah said.
Badarli sought to clarify that all the MLAs were funding the tour themselves and that it had nothing to do with politics.
"We travel abroad two or three times. Earlier, we visited Muscat, European countries and the United States," he said.
Puttaranga Shetty said the MLAs would return on March 2 or 3.
Responding to suggestions that those travelling belonged to Siddaramaiah’s camp, Shetty said, "The CM is not aware of our trip. Why drag his name into this unnecessarily?"
MLAs considered close to Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said there was nothing unusual about "common friends travelling abroad together."
"We too have travelled abroad. What is wrong with that? I was not invited. Our team is different from theirs, but it is not factionalism," MLA H C Balakrishna said.
MLA Ravi Ganiga said no one could remove the incumbent or change the government merely because of a foreign tour, adding that the Congress high command takes appropriate decisions at the right time.
