BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition in Assembly R Ashoka called Congress’ Form-7 allegation “completely fabricated and false” and accused the CM and other Congress leaders of exerting political pressure on the commission, which he claimed is unlawful.
He asked what legal authority the CM has to direct the ECI. Ashoka said only about 25,000 Form-7s have been filed, so 15 lakh deletions are not possible. He said the ECI is still examining the applications and, by his information, no one’s name has been removed on the basis of them. He added that a Form-7 filed in Belagavi’s Veerabhadranagar was rejected for being submitted in bulk.
He also said Form-7 need not be submitted only by Booth Level Officers, since voters of the constituency can file it too. Ashoka said many apparent deletions reflect people moving away. In one part of his own constituency, he said, only 800 of 2,000 voters remain, as the rest returned to their home towns.
Any genuinely deleted name, he said, can be restored by submitting proper documents. He said the ECI can act against anyone holding voter IDs in two or three states and ensure a single voting right. He claimed there are 2 crore Bangladeshi residents in the country who cannot be given voting rights.
He said Bangladeshis left West Bengal during its SIR exercise, and accused Congress was working on their behalf. He said the BJP also wants no eligible voter of any religion removed, but accused Congress of shielding those who vote in four or five places.
If Congress believes the printing of Form- 7 was improper, he said, it should go to court, and the court would reprimand the commission if the records support it, he said. Ashoka called the CM’s sit-in itself illegal and said police should arrest him first. He said Shivakumar, having taken the oath of office, should not work only for his party, and accused him of protesting instead of governing.