Campaign against 'vote chori': D K Shivakumar submits 1.12 crore signatures to Congress headquarters

New Delhi: Karnataka Congress president and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday handed over 1.12 crore signatures collected from the state as part of the campaign against ‘vote chori’ (vote theft), claiming that the misuse of institutions be stopped.

Congress had initiated a campaign to collect five crore signatures from September 15 against ‘vote chori’ to be handed over to President Droupadi Murmu. While the first phase ended, the Congress has asked its state units to continue with the campaign for another week.

Handing over the signatures at the Indira Bhavan, he told reporters that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had got the issue probed and found large-scale irregularities in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka. He also met Kharge earlier in the day.

Asked about the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, he claimed that the Election Commission has admitted themselves and it is clear that there is misuse of office.

On Bihar, he alleged that the EC has not done justice to the state by deleting a number of eligible voters. “Their votes were deleted because they were voters of ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance),” he said.