Narayanaswamy challenges Cong over ‘vote theft’ claims

Bengaluru: Karnataka Legislative Council Opposition Leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy challenged the Congress to seek the resignation of its governments if it believes that “vote theft” occurred in Karnataka and Kerala during elections.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Narayanaswamy was reacting to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s reported letter to the Election Commission seeking cancellation of elections held after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and demanding a return to ballot paper voting.

He said political demands should have a logical basis. “If vote theft has happened in Karnataka and Kerala, the Congress has governments in both states. Let them resign and show us,” he said. Narayanaswamy defended the SIR exercise, saying it was being conducted according to constitutional provisions. He claimed that similar electoral roll revision exercises had also been conducted when the Congress was in power and questioned the need for the party to oppose the present exercise.

He alleged that the Congress was opposing SIR as part of a political strategy and said Form 7 applications were meant to remove names of deceased persons, duplicate voters and ineligible voters from electoral rolls. He rejected allegations that Form 7 applications were being printed or misused by the BJP, saying copies were available on the Election Commission’s website. Narayanaswamy said the BJP would approach the Election Commission with a complaint against the Congress’ allegations. He also disputed claims that 40-50 lakh voters had already been deleted from the electoral rolls, saying no names had so far been removed through Form 7 applications.

He challenged the Congress to provide documentary evidence for its allegations and warned that the BJP would launch protests if its workers were targeted.