Bengaluru, 24 September

State Congress President BK Hariprasad on Thursday alleged that BJP MLA Abhay Patil wrote a letter to the Election Commission, seeking to delete the names of 2,500 voters from the electoral roll in Belagavi.

Hariprasad also claimed that all the names given by the MLA were from the minority community, who Patil had called “Pakistanis and Bangladeshis”.

Hariprasad showed reporters showed a copy of the letter. However, the Election Commission responded that it cannot delete voters like that, Hariprasad added. 

In one booth alone, application forms were submitted to delete the names of 50 people from one family. 

Form 7 clearly states that if anyone interferes with the process or files any bogus form, they will be liable for punishment, Hariprasad said.

"I demand that whoever has filed Form-7 seeking deletion of voters from the electoral roll should face immediate action. They should be arrested immediately and subjected to legal proceedings," the Congress leader said. “We have also found that deletion forms were filed without signatures. Names of around 7,000 voters have been included in deletion forms, and not a single one of them bears a signature”.

"Their workers and their blind followers support them and are carrying out this work. I demand that everyone should remain vigilant about this and strict action should be taken against them," he said.

"We have very clear evidence. The SIR is not being conducted properly anywhere," the Congress state president said.

He charged that the BJP and the RSS were trying to remove genuine voters, poor people and those who believe in the Constitution from the electoral rolls.