Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Feb 10: A crowd of BJP workers belonging to the legislative constituency here laid siege to the office of the revenue officer in Ullal municipality on the evening of Thursday February 9, alleging that names of several BJP supporters had been purposefully deleted from the voters list.
Election is being held for two wards of Ullal municipality on February 11. Just two days ahead of the election, names of several people were suddenly obliterated from the list that has been in force since 2011, citing various reasons. 176 names have been deleted from ward No. 24 and 167 names have been dropped from 26th ward. BJP workers have been claiming that these voters are supporters of their party, and therefore their names have been dropped intentionally.
The BJP workers questioned revenue officer of the municipality, Ramaiah Reddy, about this sudden step. They occupied his office for about two hours, and urged him to give full details about the move to erase so many names at the last minute. They also pressurized him to reveal the names of those who prevailed upon him to delete these names. When the officer said that the names were removed after survey, they demanded for copy of the survey report. The officer was not agreeable to part with the report. Tension mounted in municipal office as a result.
BJP workers then informed Ullal police, asking them to register their complaint. Station house officer Gopikrishna, and sub-inspector Rajendra, who arrived on the spot, tried to pacify the BJP workers, but the workers stood their ground demanding to register case against Reddy. The police officers opined that complaint may be filed with either the election commission or deputy commissioner of the district, as this is an election-related issue. But the BJP workers insisted on the visit of assistant commissioner to sort out the issue.
The assistant commissioner, who came there after an hour, advised the angry workers to hold discussion with deputy commissioner. Thereafter, a BJP delegation led by local assembly constituency BJP president, Santosh Kumar Boliyar, met the district deputy commissioner and handed over to him a complaint. The deputy commissioner said that electoral officials have already left their offices as it is late in the evening. He said that the complaint will be taken up with the officers, and further steps will be taken in consultation with them.
BJP constituency unit vice president, Chandrahas Ullal, candidate Chandrahas Pandit House, Harish, Jeevan Kumar Thokkottu, Dayanand Thokkottu, Podimonu, Haneef etc were present.
Boliyar said opponents of BJP, who realized that BJP will wrest both these seats, have resorted to this ulterior measure to defeat the BJP. "From Friday, open campaigning is barred. On Sunday, courts are closed. Election is being held on Monday. Taking these things into account, names of 343 voters were suddenly removed from the list on Wednesday. The action of the officials in deleting these names without any reason is a clever plot hatched against BJP. This conspiracy has tacit support of the state minister. We will continue to fight till we get justice," he said.
Mohan, a resident of Sevantigudde, which is part of ward No. 24 at Ullal, noted that the name of his wife, who lives with him, has been removed without any reason. He pointed out that his wife has been a voter since many years, and termed this action as meaningless.