Congress moves Karnataka poll panel, alleges 'electoral fraud' in Rajarajeshwari constituency

Congress had last month launched an attack against Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai alleging that he was directly involved in alleged electoral fraud in Bengaluru.

Karnataka Congress leaders on Wednesday reached the Karnataka State Election commission (SEC) office and lodged a complaint against the alleged electoral fraud in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency. Congress Bangalore Rural MP DK Suresh along with other leaders arrived at the SEC Office in KR Circle area in Bengaluru and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena demanding action into the matter.

Congress leaders said that the Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency is at the forefront of the entire controversy. Congress leaders informed that the constituency is divided into nine wards and has 397 polling booths with over 4,54,000 registered voters.

"We went through the electoral records of the current year and compared it with the 2018 list, and found out that an additional 91,000 voters were added to Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency electoral list," DK Suresh alleged. He also said that voters' names were added to existing houses, and alleged it "to be a reflection of the malpractice perpetuated by the private agency 'Chilume'".

"Records of around 46000 voters have been deleted if compared with the list of 2018 and January 2022," he said. Congress leaders also claimed that polling stations were shifted deliberately to deprive voters of certain areas from casting their votes. "Polling station for voters at RNS Trust Engineering College was shifted to KLE Society, Nagarabhavi which is nearly around 11km away from the previous location. This clearly explains how an eligible voter without any explanation or fault was forced to go to a far-off place from his registered address to cast his vote," he said.

Congress leader alleged that there had been massive misuse of the state machinery to favour the BJP and the sitting MLAs and ministers. "The Election Commission must initiate action against all involved in the scam and the true voters' list must be revived," they said.

Congress had last month launched an attack against Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai alleging that he was directly involved in alleged electoral fraud in Bengaluru. "Shocking expose reveals that those in citadels of power, including Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, are responsible for theft of voters' data, fraud and impersonation," Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala had said while addressing a press conference in Bengaluru.

Surjewala had demanded a high-level probe in the matter and claimed a private agency named "Chilume" was authorised by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) - the urban local body of Bengaluru, to carry out a door-to-door survey of voters in the city. (ANI)

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