SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Hyderabad: Telangana Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Sunday, October 11, hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over alleged vote deletions and asked its state president, N Ramchander Rao, to set a date and time when he can bring all the people who lost their voting rights.
His comments came as the BJP claimed that Congress’ allegations against the Election Commission and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) were part of a political conspiracy to weaken constitutional institutions and gain political mileage.
Congress peddling false allegations to gain political mileage: BJP
On October 10, Ramchander Rao posted a video clip on X where he flagged all the instances when the Congress had supported the revision of electoral rolls.
“Recently, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala of Kerala had stated that the Special (Intensive) Revision proved beneficial in Kerala, noting that the CPI(M) had previously facilitated the inclusion of bogus voters in the electoral rolls,” Rao said.
“Next, Mathew Kuzhalnadan—who is currently a Congress MLA from Muvattupuzha, Kerala—stated that the SIR process helped remove bogus voters fraudulently enrolled by the CPI(M). According to him, the removal of these entries also benefited him politically. This is what the Kerala Congress MLA said,” he added.
He also said that Shashi Tharoor too had acknowledged that electoral rolls contain irregularities, including duplicate entries, the names of deceased voters, and multiple registrations of the same individuals at different locations.
Rao claimed that the Congress would support SIR if it wins. “In the past, Congress leaders also wanted the voters’ list to be purged. Then SIR was seen as a revolutionary reform. And now how has the same SIR suddenly become controversial? If Congress wins = democracy wins. If Congress loses = there is malpractice in the electoral system!” Rao’s X post stated.
A day before that, Union Coal and Mines Minister Kishan Reddy had alleged that Congress has spread disinformation against the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), judiciary, parliament and Election Commission whenever their functioning did not suit its political interests.
Not right for BJP to dismiss protests: Ponnam
In a video statement, Ponnam Prabhakar said it was not right for the BJP to dismiss protests and question whether anyone has actually lost their right to vote.
He said that the BJP should instead call for correcting errors in the revision of electoral rolls and urge party workers to participate in protecting the voting rights of every eligible citizen.
“You tell me the date and time…I will bring before you the affected people who are worried about losing their voting rights, along with the supporting documents and evidence,” Ponnam said.
He said that an attempt was made to delete his own vote by citing discrepancies in names “as a pretext”.
He alleged that 13 crore votes have been lost across the country. Hyderabad alone has lost 40 lakh votes, and 70 lakh votes have been deleted across Telangana in the name of electoral roll revision, he said.
He demanded that the Election Commission disclose details of how many votes have been deleted and if any votes of eligible citizens were mistakenly deleted.
He alleged that votes belonging to SC, ST, BC, and minority communities opposing BJP were being targeted in particular.
“Poor people, elderly citizens, illiterate people, and daily-wage workers are being forced to run from one office to another to prove their voting rights. Even when people possess identity documents such as Aadhaar, they are asked to submit additional evidence. The Election Commission must clearly explain how ordinary citizens can protect their rights,” he said.
SOURCE : SIASAT
