21,000 Telangana voters aged over 100 years, alleges Congress
HYDERABAD: There is a voter in Telangana who is 2,017 years old, or so claims the Congress. The grand old party has alleged that the voters’ list released by the Election Commission of India for Telangana has about 21,000 voters aged between 100 and 2,017 years!
The details were presented by the AICC secretary Abhishek Manu Singhvi at a press conference in New Delhi.
Singhvi slammed the Centre, State government and the Election Commission alleging that there were about 70 lakh discrepancies in the voters’ list. He did not rule out approaching the Supreme Court over the “unfair elections”. He claimed that the TRS had dissolved the Assembly prematurely to cash-in on these discrepancies in the list.
“Just like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chattisgarh, Telangana has a list of 70 lakh voters who either have duplicate names or missing names. The numbers are through our private investigation, one can imagine how much more could come to light if it is officially done,” Singhvi said.
Explaining further, he stated: “About 50 lakh voters have their names repeated across the voter’s list. Their names, age, sex, and even photos are the same. There is also duplication of 17 lakh voters from the 9 mandals of Khammam which the Andhra Pradesh and the Telangana share together. The comic if not a tragic aspect is that when we contacted the EC, we realised that both the States are claiming these 17 lakh voters.”
He demanded that a thorough process of verification and sanitisation of the voter list should be initiated before any elections could have been announced but the sad part is that only four weeks have been given. “Any election held on the basis of these deeply and deliberately flawed and inaccurate voter list would undermine the entire process and would lead to a distorted mandate. It would be a fraud on democracy and on the people of the country,’’ he pointed out. The revised electoral roll was published on September 10.
On September 14, when its leaders – M Shashidhar Reddy and Ravi Shankar Jandhyala – led a delegation to highlight the issues, the EC has chosen to maintain silence on the matter, he alleged.
“We reserve the Constitutional rights to approach the court and explore all legal possibilities but we want to go to the people’s court. We would be failing to do our duty as a national political party if we did not bring this to the notice of the people,” Singhvi said, adding that his party was “ready and raring to go for elections at any time.”
When we met the Chief Electoral Officer on September 14, he confirmed that they knew about the discrepancies. They said that it will take time for the list to be purified. How can they take time when it had to be done immediately,” asked Marri Shashidhar Reddy, TPCC chairperson.
courtesy : newindianexpress.com
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
