Cong is the father of electoral malpractices, says Ramdas

Former minister S A Ramdas has sought a judicial probe into what he described as 'voters list capturing or voters list rigging'.

He alleged that the state government is misusing its powers to get officials to delete the names of voters from the voters list by citing that they are either dead or have relocated so as to facilitate the victory of the Congress in the ensuing 2018 Assembly election.

Addressing reporters here on Friday, he said that, "The Congress party is the father of electoral malpractices. The first ever booth rigging or booth capturing was recorded by one Kaam Deo Singh on behalf of Congress candidate Sarayau Prasad Singh at Kachari Thola of Rachiahi village under Begusarai Assembly constituency of Bihar in 1957."

"Now, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a native of Mysuru, is all set to create history by plotting to capture voters list. I have unearthed the misdeeds of the officials in Krishnaraja (KR), Chamaraja and Narasimharaja Assembly constituencies in Mysuru city and Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru rural region. Chamundeshwari is in the news of late as Siddaramaiah has been repeatedly announcing that he would contest the election from there," Ramdas said.

"Under KR constituency, 4,794 names have been deleted while the numbers in Chamaraja is 5,642, Narasimharaja has 3,416 and Chamundeshwari has the highest of all at 11,212. Of the copies of 4,000 applications by voters for revision, at least 3,000 have been filled with the same handwriting. Such conspiracy is suspected to have been hatched in all 224 constituencies in the state and the leaders of all political parties should verify the revision of the voters list in their respective constituency. I have also brought the issue to the BJP high command. However, voters should verify the lists, either online or in their booth to see if their names exist," he said.

Tracing the origin of the episode in the three Assembly constituencies of the city, Ramdas said that, "MLA M K Somasekhar of the KR constituency has written a letter to the Deputy Commissioner on July 28, seeking deletion of the 'unauthorised' names in the voters list. On July 29, the DC has written a letter to the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) commissioner, directing him to take measures to revise the voters' list, citing the MLA's letter. In the letter dated August 4, the MCC Commissioner has directed his zonal commissioners, revenue officers, and assistant revenue officers to verify the voters list and to report within 15 days, again citing the MLA's letter."

"Except the Election Commission and the voters concerned, nobody is authorised to seek a revision of the voters' list. By asking the DC to revise the voters' list, the MLA has violated the law. By following the MLA's directions, both the DC and the MCC commissioner and their subordinate officials have erred. No procedure has been followed and the process has been completed in a hurry. So, a complaint has been lodged with the Election Commission in this connection on October 13. Even as the EC was probing the complaint, the Tahsildar in the MCC, responsible for election work, has been transferred to Chikkaballapur," he pointed out.

Deputy Commissioner D Randeep said that the letter from the MLA was a complaint about the lapses in the voters list and anybody, even a voter, can complain in this regard. "Acting on the complaint by the MLA, I had directed the officials concerned to verify the facts and revise the voters list. The version of the former minister in this connection is a wrong interpretation of the law," he said.