Names of ahinda voters deleted from list, alleges DK Shivakumar

The BJP government has deleted from the voters’ list the names of a large number of people from minority, SC and other communities who vote against the saffron party, KPCC president D K Shivakumar alleged on Sunday.

This has been done in order to have an edge in the elections and the number of such voters is in lakhs, he claimed.

“We will release the list (of deleted voters) in the coming days. We have an official list,” Shivakumar said.

Many ahinda (term for minorities, dalits and OBCs) people are removed from the voters’ list. Directions have been issued to all party workers to assess voters at the booth level and identify names that were removed.

Many names were removed across the state and in 243 wards of BBMP, especially in such areas where minorities, scheduled castes and communities were present in large numbers, he said.

Attacking the BJP government, he said that the reservation list for BBMP wards had been prepared at will, to the disadvantage of the Congress, the KPCC chief said.

“None of the 3,000 objections filed against the draft reservation list was considered,” Shivakumar said.

In Bommanahalli Assembly constituency, nine of the 14 wards are reserved for women, eight out of nine in Jayanagar, all eight wards of BTM Layout and seven wards of Gandhinagar are reserved for women.

Of the 93 wards in constituencies represented by the Congress, 76 are reserved for women, the KPCC president said.

“We are not against reservation for women and are committed to empower them politically. But opportunities for women should be distributed equally. Concentrating it in specific constituencies is injustice,” he said.

On the ‘freedom march’ planned by the state Congress to mark 75th Independence Day, he said 29,000 people had registered to participate in the event.

Urging participants to make use of public transport, Shivakumar said that he would request the chief minister to offer 50% concession for Metro rail users in Bengaluru on August 15.