The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Voters exceed population in some areas’

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Saturday, Jan 05, 2008
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‘Voters exceed population in some areas’

Special Correspondent

KPCC detects large-scale inclusion of names of bogus voters

M. Mallikarjun Kharge

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has detected large-scale inclusion of names of bogus voters in many Assembly constituencies in north Karnataka districts, including some constituencies wherein the number of voters was more than the population.

KPCC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge told presspersons that such inclusions have been made in Bidar, Raichur and Bijapur districts.

In Humnabad town of Bidar district, there were 30,000 voters whereas the population of the town was 36,500. There were 12,000 children ages less than 18 in the town, including 4,137 and 3,017 in primary and high schools, he said. Mr. Kharge said that it was a mystery from where 30,000 voters came to be on the list. It will affect the chances of genuine candidates in the elections. Similarly, 6,000 voters in 22 villages have been included in the voter list of Shahpur constituency in Gulbarga district about which the people were expressing their dismay.

Accompanied by the former Ministers, D.B. Chandre Gowda, Basavaraj Patil Humnabad and Siddu Nyamegowda, and the former Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board, H. Hanumanthappa, he said that the names of 90 persons have been included in the list of a family of five. Such things could happen only with the involvement of unscrupulous elements, he said.

He said that the party would write to the Election Commission and the Governor seeking a probe into the scandal and also to have the bogus names removed from the list.

He condemned the attitude of the State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party D.V. Sadananda Gowda and the former Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, for unnecessarily criticising the Governor and the Congress leaders in Gulbarga. They should exercise restraint while speaking in public, as they were dreaming of coming to power.

Refuting the charge that the Congress was conspiring to postpone the elections, Mr. Kharge said that the BJP should know that announcing the date of elections was the prerogative of the Election Commission.

Asked whether the Union Government was implementing the report of the Delimitation Commission on Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in the coming elections, he said that it was left to the Centre.

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