Congress has collected 1.12 crore signatures against ‘vote chori’ in Karnataka: Deputy CM DKS
BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, on Saturday said that the party has gathered 1.12 crore signatures from Karnataka as part of its signature campaign against ‘vote chori.’
Addressing a joint press conference with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the KPCC office in Bengaluru on Saturday, Shivakumar said that the signatures will be submitted to the Congress high command, which in turn will take a call on presenting it to the President of India and the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Shivakumar expressed confidence that the campaign by the Congress under the leadership of LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on ‘vote theft’ will reflect in the results of the Bihar Assembly polls as the Mahaghatbandhan will win the mandate. “We have collected signatures from 40 party organisational districts in Karnataka. The campaign was a success, and we have collected 1,12,40,000 signatures. We have decided to send the signatures to Delhi on November 10. There is a massive rally planned at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on November 25,” Shivakumar told reporters.
Shivakumar asserted that the elections to the five corporations of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will be conducted using ballot papers, instead of EVMs, by using the State Election Commission’s voters’ list.
Shivakumar reiterated that there were attempts to remove 6,000 voters from the Aland Assembly constituency. “Attempts were done to remove the voters from the list using mobile phone numbers from other states, and an SIT investigation is in progress,” he said, adding that it has come to light that Rs 80 was given for every name deleted from the voters’ list. “The SIT report will be out soon,” the DCM added.
On why the Congress has not approached the courts or submitted an affidavit to the ECI, he said, “We are seeking supplementary documents from the ECI, but they are not providing us with them. Let them give the documents, and then we will submit an affidavit. Media investigated the vote fraud in the Mahadevapura constituency and found more than 84 voters in one address. The ECI hasn’t acted on it.”
He said that 300 MPs have made their representation to the ECI, but they have not received any response.
“Why did the ECI take up Special Intensive Revision after we exposed vote chori? Hence, we have decided to use the State Election Commission’s voters’ list for the local body elections,” Shivakumar added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that after Narendra Modi became the prime minister, the latter destroyed all the constitutional institutions and made the ECI and CBI his subordinates. He claimed that the documents of ‘vote theft’ in Karnataka prove a systematic conspiracy.
“It is clear that the BJP has come to power in many assembly and Lok Sabha elections through vote theft. Rahul Gandhi has convinced the people of the country about vote theft with documents after a rigorous study and investigation. Rahul has exposed vote theft in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency along with documents and placed the documents before the people of the country,” he said.