Bengaluru: A day after Congress state president BK Hariprasad accused him of demanding deletion of 2,500 minority voters from Belagavi South, BJP MLA Abhay Patil hit back saying he had written to the Election Commission as a booth level agent (BLA-I) seeking verification of the voters’ antecedents and not their deletion.While displaying a copy of the letter, Hariprasad Thursday alleged Patil sought deletion of around the minority community voters by claiming they were ‘Pakistanis’ and demanded action against those involved.Patil said: “Maybe Hariprasad did not read the letter properly. I only asked the EC to inquire into the antecedents of those voters, not delete them. He said as a four-time MLA he was not “foolish” to directly seek deletion, which would amount to influencing the poll body.Addressing a news conference, Patil said booth level agents-2 (BLA-2s), while scrutinising the draft voters’ list, had raised objections before booth level officers (BLOs) regarding individuals suspected to be fake voters. BLOs were expected to conduct field verification and recommend deletion only if the entries were found to be fraudulent.“I did not mention any community in my letter. The interpretation that it targeted a particular community is entirely Hariprasad’s,” Patil said.Explaining the process, Patil said objections were submitted individually by BLA-2s whenever suspicious entries were identified and were not filed as bulk requests. He said electoral laws require BLOs to carry out door-to-door verification to establish the authenticity of voter entries before any action is taken.Patil said he had written to the returning officer, in his capacity as a BLA-1, seeking verification of the objections submitted by party workers. However, he alleged that returning officer, Belagavi City Corporation Commissioner Kartik M, misunderstood the communication and responded that bulk objections could not be entertained. He claimed the submission was merely a compilation of objections already raised at the booth level.Meanwhile, at a news conference in Bengaluru Friday, Hariprasad said he had in his possession applications relating to 65,000 deleted votes, none carrying the signatures of the individuals concerned. “On scrutiny, we found a large proportion of the deleted voters were minorities and Dalits,” he said. “An attempt is being made to strip the poor of voting rights. The errors are not in the electoral rolls; they are in the EC’s SIR process.”He also ridiculed BJP saying its central BJP functionaries defend the commission whenever it is questioned, when the EC itself should be answering.
