DK Shivakumar-led Congress delegation petitions Karnataka CEO, urges probe of voter lists in all seats

Anbukumar asked Shivakumar to submit documents along with a declaration and oath. To this, Shivakumar said, 'I have already taken a pledge towards citizens. What more do you want? If we're lying, then hang us'.

Bengaluru: A Congress delegation led by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday petitioned Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar and asked him to investigate the voter lists of all constituencies from the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The petition is signed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, Congress general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Congress has asked the CEO to make public digital, machine-readable photo electoral rolls of all constituencies. Further, it wants the CEO to to publish the findings of his investigation highlighting "suspicious" voters who were added or deleted.

The petition is signed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, Congress general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Credit: X/@MansoorKhanINCSignificantly, Congress wants the CEO to "re-examine the impact of such dubious voters on the final electoral outcome in these constituencies".

Lastly, Congress has sought action against electoral registration officers (ERO) and assistant electoral registration officers (AERO) who approved "fraudulent" voter roll entries.

The delegation that met Anbukumar had Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president, his working president GC Chandrashekhar, MLC Basanagouda Badarli and defeated Bangalore Central candidate Mansoor Ali Khan.

In the petition, the Congress pointed out that BJP's PC Mohan trailed Khan by 82,178 votes after votes were counted in seven Assembly segments of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat. "But in Mahadevapura, the BJP candidate got a massive 1,14,046 votes over the Congress candidate and thus was declared the overall winner," it stated, adding that Congress found, after "a painstaking effort over six months" that 15% of registered electors in Mahadevapura were dubious.

Anbukumar asked Shivakumar to submit documents along with a declaration and oath. Reacting to this, Shivakumar said: "I have already taken a pledge towards citizens. What more do you want? If we're lying, then hang us."

Shivakumar said Anbukumar informed the Congress delegation that an investigation had started based on Rahul Gandhi's claims.

Do-or-die battle, says Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday called upon his part workers to wage a "do-or-die" battle. "Today, on August 8, I urge you all to draw inspiration from the Quit India Movement, a pivotal moment in our nation's history led by Mahatma Gandhi. On August 9, 1942, Gandhi ji gave the rallying cry of do-or-die and today, we face a similar existential battle," Kharge said at the ‘Vote Adhikar' rally. "Our privileges as citizens are under threat as our voting rights are being snatched away,” Kharge said. "We must rise to the occasion and take decisive action to save our democracy and the Constitution of India,” he said.