BELAGAVI: The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has triggered a political controversy in Belagavi, with the Congress alleging an attempt to target minority voters through bulk applications seeking deletion of names from the electoral rolls.
The controversy surfaced at a polling station in Veerabhadra Nagar, where two unidentified persons, who allegedly claimed to be Belagavi City Corporation employees, reportedly pressured a Booth Level Officer (BLO) to sign around 200 Form-7 applications seeking deletion of voters' names on the ground that they were “bogus”.
The BLO, however, refused to sign the forms, pointing out that she had herself completed the mapping of the voters whose names were being objected to. The two men also allegedly insisted on obtaining copies of the acknowledgements for the forms.
The incident soon drew the attention of local political leaders. Congress leaders alleged that the two men were associated with a local BJP leader. They further claimed that all 200 names mentioned in the Form-7 applications belonged to Muslim voters. However, the allegations have not been established as yet.
Youth Congress leader Amaan Sait said the Congress would lodge a complaint seeking registration of an FIR against those allegedly involved in pressuring election officials to process the objections. He said similar attempts were being made to put pressure on BLOs in Belagavi to get voters' names erased.
Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Roshan said no voter's name had been deleted on the basis of the objections received at the polling station. He said complaints had been received from representatives of different political parties regarding the submission of bulk objections and that the administration would inquire into the incident and take action according to the rules if any violation was established.
The incident has also become part of a wider political dispute over the SIR exercise in Belagavi. On September 22, workers of two political parties clashed at the same polling station over allegations concerning bulk Form-7 objections, prompting police intervention.
Hariprasad targets Abhay Patil
The controversy escalated on Thursday after KPCC president B.K. Hariprasad alleged that Belagavi South BJP MLA Abhay Patil had written to election authorities seeking deletion of the names of around 2,500 voters.
Displaying what he described as documentary evidence at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, Hariprasad alleged that the request involved minority voters and amounted to misuse of Form-7, which is used to seek deletion of names from electoral rolls.
Hariprasad also alleged that applications had been submitted seeking deletion of around 7,000 names and that, in some cases, as many as 50 voters from a single house were targeted. He demanded an inquiry by the Election Commission and action against anyone found to have submitted false or bogus objections.
“Who has authorised an MLA to seek deletion of other people's votes?” Hariprasad asked, adding that the Congress would submit a complaint to the Election Commission along with the documents.
Abhay Patil hits back
Reacting to the allegations, Abhay Patil rejected Hariprasad's claims and said his letter had only sought verification of the report submitted by the Booth Level Agent (BLA-2).
“I have clearly written that the report submitted by BLA-2 should be verified and, if any voters are found to be bogus, their names should be deleted,” Patil said.
He denied referring to Rohingyas, Pakistanis or Muslims in his letter and maintained that he had only asked the election authorities to remove names found to be bogus after due verification.
