Bengaluru: KPCC president B K Hariprasad on Thursday accused the Election Commission of losing its autonomy and functioning under the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. He warned that the INDIA bloc’s agitation would continue until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigned.
Addressing a state-level protest rally titled ‘Save the Vote, Save the Nation’ at Freedom Park, Hariprasad alleged that the BJP and RSS were weakening democratic institutions and undermining constitutional values.
He criticised the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India from the committee selecting election commissioners and the inclusion of a Union minister instead. Comparing the arrangement to a cricket match, he said it was like allowing a team to choose its own umpires.
Hariprasad also raised concerns over alleged deletions of voters’ names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He cited figures of 64 lakh deletions in Bihar and 91 lakh in West Bengal, besides alleging irregularities in Maharashtra and Haryana. He also referred to alleged discrepancies involving one lakh votes in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura constituency.
Demanding the restoration of eligible voters’ names and legal action over alleged electoral irregularities, he said protests would be organised in every district of Karnataka.
He said parties in the INDIA bloc would remain united to protect the Constitution, voting rights and the Election Commission’s independence.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Gopinath Palaniappan and several ministers and MLAs attended the rally.