INDIA bloc leaders staged a protest in Bengaluru on Thursday against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Chief Minister DK Shivakumar demanded that deleted voters' names be restored. "Everyone should get justice. Till then, we will continue our fight," he said. Leaders also demanded that the CEC resign immediately.
BENGALURU: Leaders of the INDIA bloc on Thursday staged a protest here against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanded that the deleted voters' names be restored.
Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who participated in the protest, said the deleted voters' names, except those of deceased persons, should be restored. "Everyone should get justice. Till then, we will continue our fight," he added.
The CM said the bloc will not accept the way SIR is being conducted. The Congress has taken a firm stand in this regard. Addressing a rally, he said that his government will conduct a police inquiry and take action against those who had submitted a large number of Form 7. This protest is not against the Election Commission alone, but also against the BJP's larger conspiracy, he said. "We are committed to safeguarding the people's vote. We have proof of those who had submitted Form 7. Cases will be filed against them,'' he said.
He alleged that the BJP had pre-filled Form 7 applications with voters' details, targeting around 20,000 ST, Backward Classes and minority votes in each constituency for deletion.
The BJP had conspired to appoint its party workers as booth level officers (BLOs) through the Chilume organisation in Bengaluru to illegally delete lakhs of voters' names and add new ones. Congress leaders had met the Election Commission officials in Delhi in this regard.
He alleged that the BJP had misused the EC to undermine voters' rights not only in Karnataka, but also in Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.
Former CM Siddaramaiah demanded that the SIR be withdrawn and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar resign immediately.
Siddaramaiah said any attempt to weaken the democratic system or deprive citizens of their voting rights would be strongly opposed. He raised questions over the process through which Gyanesh Kumar was appointed as CEC. He said the Centre had changed the composition of the selection committee for election commissioners.
Earlier, the committee had the PM, LoP in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India as its members. A subsequent law replaced the chief justice with a Union minister and that increased the influence of the Centre over the selection process, he added.