Mangaluru: Actor and activist Prakash Raj launched a scathing attack on the central govt and the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging widespread irregularities in the electoral rolls and accusing the administration of trying to suppress dissent through police action.Addressing a news conference Saturday, the actor questioned the BJP’s claims that lakhs of Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals had illegally entered the country, including Karnataka.“BJP leaders repeatedly asserted that thousands of undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan had entered India, including Dakshina Kannada. However, the list submitted by the Election Commission reportedly contained only two women from Bangladesh and Pakistan, who had come here after marriage. Let the BJP leaders show where those infiltrators are now,” he said, questioning the need for the ECI spending crores of rupees in the name of special intensive revision (SIR).According to Prakash Raj, more than 70 lakh living voters in Karnataka continued to face removal due to ‘absent’, ‘shifted’, and ‘logical discrepancies’ classifications, even after accounting for roughly 20 to 22 lakh duplicate and deceased entries. “The SIR exercise in the state turned out to be one of the largest deletions of voters in the country’s electoral history,” he said.Demanding action against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, he criticised the govt for its growing crackdown on peaceful protesters and young activists. He condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for describing protesting youth as “Dimagi Naxals”.The SIR exercise affected marginalised communities, including Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Adivasis and economically weaker sections, he said and reiterated his commitment to stand up for those voiceless voters.“You cannot erase the votes of those who have no voice. The public has woken up to this vote theft [’Vote Chori’], and we will leverage our constitutional and democratic rights to bring down this government,” he added.To a query on BJP MLC CT Ravi defending the SIR, Prakash Raj challenged him to examine the electoral rolls in his home constituency of Chikkamagaluru. “Names of a large number of eligible voters are missing from the list in Ravi’s district. I will show him the list of those eligible voters to CT Ravi,” he said.He added that his name also has been deleted from the voter list. Stating that he did not submit Form 6, the actor said, “I did not want to register my name as a new voter.”Earlier, Prakash Raj participated in ‘Janata Nadige’, a mass public rally organised by Dakshina Kannada District Joint Forum of Secular Parties and Organisations in the city, demanding the complete revocation of the SIR and the sacking of Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities.
