Congress alleges deliberate manipulation in Telangana voters list
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Accusing the Telangana government of trying to vitiate the upcoming Assembly polls by "manipulating voters lists", the Congress on Sunday demanded the Election Commissions (EC) intervention for verification and sanitisation of electoral rolls.
Alleging that as many as 70 lakh names in the electoral lists have been manipulated, Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi wondered if the "contamination of the voter lists" was the reason behind the K. Chandrasekhar Rao government prematurely dissolving the Telangana Assembly in order to swing elections in their favour.
"Rao rushed to announce the dates for the Telangana Assembly elections and deliberately chose to ignore the numerous discrepancies in the voter lists which disenfranchise lakhs of eligible voters and completely erode the integrity of the elections, whenever they are conducted," Singhvi told the media here.
"It is clear that the caretaker Chief Minister of Telangana is sacrificing the integrity of the elections for the sake of his petty political ambitions."
Singhvi said that an inquiry by the party has revealed that at least 30.13 lakh duplicate voters exist on the electoral rolls published by the Election Commission on September 10.
He also said that close to 20 lakh voters in Telangana have been deleted from the rolls between 2014 and 2018.
"When we raised the issue with the EC, we were told that the reduction (of 20 lakh voters) was largely due to voter migration from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh following the bifurcation.
"However, it has since been found that even in Andhra Pradesh, there has been a reduction of close to 17 lakh voters. If in fact, a migration of such a large number had taken place, shouldn't there have been a corresponding increase in the number of voters in Andhra Pradesh?" asked Singhvi.
Pointing out further discrepancies in the electoral rolls, the Congress leader claimed that close to 18 lakh names featured in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana electoral rolls.
He asserted that the elections held on the basis of the "deeply and deliberately flawed and inaccurate" voter lists would undermine the entire process and lead to a distorted mandate.
"By dissolving the Assembly early, Rao has interfered with the process whereby these discrepancies and inaccuracies would have been corrected. After publishing the revised electoral roll on September 10, the public and other political parties have been given a mere four weeks to identify and highlight these issues. This is a travesty," said Singhvi, urging the EC to intervene in the strongest possible manner.
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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.
