Last Update: January 31, 2023, 2:10 PM IST
Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad. (File photo: News18)
In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, Arshad pointed out that of the 9,195 voters removed, around 8,000 belonged to the Muslim and Christian communities.
Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad has alleged that the Electoral Registration Officer of Shivajinagar constituency has initiated the process of suo moto deletion of over 9,000 minority votes from the final voter list of Shivajinagar assembly constituency ahead of the Karnataka elections this year.
In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, Arshad pointed out that of the 9,195 voters removed, around 8,000 belonged to the Muslim and Christian communities. The Congress MLA further highlighted the fact that this process of removal was done in selected 91 booths where minorities are in majority. There are a total of 193 booths in the Shivajinagar constituency.
“This is a partisan action with the malicious intent of depriving minorities of their fundamental right to vote and in turn manipulating the outcome of the upcoming elections. I request you to stop this attack on democracy and take appropriate action to hold free and fair elections for all,” Arshad said in his letter.
Final Electoral Roll 2023 was released by the State Election Commission on 15 January.
There are about 71,656 Muslim voters in Shivajinagar Assembly Constituency, which is about 37.4 percent of the total as per voter list analysis. In the last six major elections, Congress was leading five times and BJP was leading just once in the constituency.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has laid special emphasis on the Shivajinagar assembly constituency and has started his Vijay Sankalp Yatra from the same constituency where the BJP is trying to make inroads.
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