Bengaluru, Sep 16: AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal on Wednesday said the Congress has taken serious note of the SIR of electoral rolls underway in Karnataka and is "very vigilant" against malpractices in the poll process.
Raising concerns over the "genuineness" of the deletion of names from electoral rolls in the state, he accused the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre of "manipulating elections" through the Election Commission.
Venugopal, who is in charge of the Congress' organisation at the national level, along with AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, CM D K Shivakumar and KPCC chief B K Hariprasad, held meetings with party leaders, office-bearers and DCC presidents here on Wednesday.
"We had a meeting regarding Special Intensive Revision in Karnataka. BJP is fighting against us using CBI, ED, IT, and now unfortunately the Election Commission of India has joined the list, too. The number of votes being deleted in Karnataka is somewhat surprising; around 23 per cent of total voters have been deleted from the voter list," Venugopal said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said nobody would have any problem if the deletions were genuine. However, he said the actions of the Election Commission, especially over the last three to four years, had raised concerns that the deletions might not be genuine.
Alleging that about 50 lakh voters were deleted in West Bengal ahead of the elections there, the Congress leader said, "We understand the motive of the Election Commission behind carrying out this SIR exercise."
"Our party today took a very serious note. I'm requesting the CM, who is here, as state government officers are deployed as BLOs—we don't want any undue favouritism from the commission or officials or agencies. We want a free and fair play from the Election Commission of India. I think the Karnataka government will also ensure that those trying to cause mischief through SIR will pay the price," he said.
One can win an election with the mandate of the people, but one cannot win with "vote chori", he said.
"But it is happening in this country these days. So Congress held an important meeting today. I don't want to elaborate on what the party is going to do as it is an internal party matter, but the party is very vigilant to ensure that malpractices in the election process are not tolerated at both the state and national levels. All ministers and MLAs have been told to be actively involved in the exercise," he said.
Venugopal alleged that the Election Commission had, on several occasions, not responded to complaints or requests for personal hearings regarding issues raised by opposition leaders.
Stating that he held a meeting with newly appointed DCC presidents of Karnataka, who were selected through the organisational strengthening programme 'Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan', Venugopal said, "All over India, we now have 15,56,054 verified office-bearers for the party. From BLA-2 to PCC office-bearers, our party structure is very much on a new path. Anybody holding a position in the Congress party should be accountable to the leadership."
"Today we had a detailed discussion with DCC Presidents. We have given clear guidelines to them for future activities. Our motive is to create a robust organisational system across Karnataka from booth to top. DCC Presidents have to work tirelessly. After six months, we should have an assessment of DCC presidents, and those performing will continue, while those not performing will be replaced with new people," he said.
Accusing the BJP-led government at the Centre of penalising people every day, the AICC General Secretary said a new "Modi tax" had been introduced in the country through a 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate on specified UPI payments to merchants above Rs 2,000.
"It's a new Modi tax. This tax has come because of Modi's surrendering attitude toward the US. Every day they are punishing the common people of the country. The entire country is looking for a change now. To cover up people looking for change, they are indulging in malpractices in the election process," he said.
Alleging that people in the country were being "pickpocketed" by the government, he said merchants would ultimately pass on the burden to consumers.
"This government is anti-people, and their only hope is manipulating elections using the EC," he added.
Venugopal termed Union Minister J P Nadda's description of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the "most democratic leader the world has seen" as the "biggest joke" in the country.
"Modi is completely a surrendered man," he claimed.
Defending the state government's decision to limit Vande Mataram to two stanzas at official events, he said, "Whatever PIL may be filed before the court, our decision was taken by the Congress Working Committee. We will stand by that."
