Congress to deploy ‘vote rakshaks’ to verify electoral rolls

Rajamahendravaram: The Congress is fighting across the country to protect democracy under the slogan ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao,’ said PCC observer Mugabasav Kiran. Addressing a press conference at the Rajamahendravaram Press Club on Tuesday, he said senior party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and others were continuing the fight against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls both in Parliament and in New Delhi. Kiran said the party would expand the campaign to State, district and mandal levels following a massive rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. The Congress would deploy ‘Vote Rakshaks’ and booth-level agents to scrutinise electoral rolls at every polling booth, panchayat and ward to identify discrepancies in the deletion and addition of voter names. The findings would be documented and submitted to the Pradesh Congress Committee president, and the party would continue its struggle until justice was ensured for affected voters, he said.

Earlier, DCC president Boda Venkat said the All India Congress Committee had appointed 200 observers across the country, with Kiran from Karnataka assigned to East Godavari district. He stressed that the right to vote was one of the most valuable rights of every citizen and called upon the Election Commission to function independently, transparently and impartially. Kiran alleged that eligible voters’ names were being deleted and suspicious entries made during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Referring to Maharashtra, he claimed that around 39 lakh new voters had been registered in the six to seven months preceding the Assembly elections. He also cited alleged irregularities in Mahadevapura under the Bengaluru Central parliamentary constituency, where more than one lakh suspicious voter registrations were reported, and in Karnataka’s Aland constituency, where the Congress alleged that around 6,000 votes had been deleted through Form 7 applications. He further referred to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks about the photograph of a Brazilian model allegedly appearing at multiple places in the Haryana electoral rolls. Kiran demanded a comprehensive inquiry into these allegations and called for the facts to be made public.

The Congress leaders outlined five major demands to ensure transparency in electoral roll revision and accountability on the part of the Election Commission. These included the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and suspension of the SIR process until the issues concerning around 13 crore voters, whose names were reportedly deleted from draft electoral rolls, were addressed. Congress leaders from various constituencies, including Fasi, Gattina Navatesh, Patnala Srinivas, Jasti Satish Babu, Kovvuru Srinivas, Dr Vadayar Srinivas and Belavathi, attended the press conference.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deekshitula Subrahmanyam

[email protected]

Deekshitula RV Subrahmanyam is a Staff Reporter with The Hans India, covering the erstwhile East and West Godavari districts, along with Alluri Sitarama Raju and Polavaram districts. A journalist with experience of over three decades, he began his career as a Telugu mofussil reporter in 1991. He writes extensively on politics, tribal affairs, rural development, tourism, development, and human-interest stories He is the author of the six-part Telugu prose Ramayana Sitarama Kathasudha and has received several literary and journalistic honours, including the JCI Young Writer Award, Vadlamudi Rammohan Rao Memorial Award and Madduri Annapurnayya Memorial Award.

Read More