Bengaluru, Jul 31 (PTI) Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will lead the party’s protest meeting at the Freedom Park here on August 5, against the alleged incidents of “votes theft”, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Thursday.
Shivakumar, also the state Congress President, said that following the protest meeting, a select group of party leaders will go to the Election Commission office here and submit a memorandum.
Amid the raging row over the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, has alleged that elections are being “stolen” in the country and claimed that his party has figured out the modus operandi of the “votes theft” by studying a parliamentary constituency in Karnataka.
“On August 5, we are organising a protest meeting. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, myself, AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, all our Ministers, legislators have discussed on how and where to organise it. It is the opinion of everyone that we organise this protest meeting at the Freedom Park,” Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters, he said, after the protest meeting at the Freedom Park, a memorandum will be submitted to the EC officials in the state.
“We will organise this protest within the framework of law and rules laid down, abiding by the directions of the court. We will not violate. We don’t want to disturb anyone,” he said, as he called on the party workers and leaders from across the state to participate in the protest.
Shivakumar along with Surjewala and other leaders held deliberations regarding the nature of the protest and the venue, considering “technical issues” and court directives for holding such events in the city. Later they inspected the protest meeting venue — Freedom Park.
Clarifying that there won’t be any mega foot march, the KPCC chief said, “we will gather at the Freedom Park and after the protest meeting and address by leaders, a select five to six leaders will go to the Election Commission office here and submit a memorandum.” Asked if the leaders, who will submit the memorandum, would march to the EC office from Freedom Park, he said, “we may go by foot or by vehicle, we will abide by the police instructions based on the situation.” Noting that there are lots of examples for “votes theft”, and the Congress has done research on this, Shivakumar said. “Our leader (Rahul Gandhi) will inform you about all this.” “This protest is to safeguard — the right to vote, the Constitution and the democracy,” he said, adding, Rahul Gandhi is coming for this cause, despite the Parliament session.
“We had earlier identified several faults (in the election process) during the assembly elections and then during the parliament polls. We are doing this protest to inform people about it,” he added.
Responding to BJP’s questions as to why the Congress did not approach the Election Commission when the draft rolls were issued, Shivakumar said, “We had objected but the Election Commission did not accept it. In Mahadevapura constituency, Congress candidate Nagesh and his son produced documents. The same thing happened in Dinesh Gundu Rao’s constituency in Gandhinagar, where around 7,000 voters were added in one ward….there are so many examples. We have documents to prove…” PTI KSU SA
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