Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 24 : The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) lodged a formal police complaint seeking legal action against Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Abhay Patil over the alleged violation of citizens' voting rights and attempts to manipulate electoral rolls.
The complaint was submitted by KPCC General Secretary S Manohar at the High Grounds Police Station in Bengaluru.
According to the complaint, the Congress party accused BJP MLA Abhay Patil of writing a letter seeking the unlawful deletion of eligible voters' names from the electoral rolls in a bid to influence elections.
The complaint also sought penal action against Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the poll body’s leadership presided over the arbitrary deletion of valid voters.
"A complaint has been submitted seeking legal action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the alleged violation of citizens' voting rights, and against BJP MLA Abhay Patil over his alleged letter seeking the deletion of names from the electoral rolls," the Congress party said.
This comes after The Indian Express report claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR process and other electoral matters. The reported disagreements included issues concerning Form 6, voter deletions and access to electoral-roll databases.
The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions. The poll panel said. Operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process.
The poll body maintained that all decisions taken by the Commission, including those related to SIR, were unanimous and had the approval of all three commissioners.
The issue has triggered reactions from Opposition parties, with Congress leaders questioning the Commission's decision-making process and raising concerns over electoral-roll revisions. The Congress has intensified its criticism of the SIR exercise, while the BJP and the Election Commission have defended the process.