The former Chief Minister of Karnataka and sitting MP, Basavaraj Bommai has alleged irregularities in electoral rolls.
He refused to withdraw his remarks or apologise, instead demanding a comprehensive probe by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer into what he described as serious discrepancies in the voter list.
Rejecting calls by Karnataka Minister HK Patil for an apology, Bommai maintained that his statements were based entirely on official electoral roll records and not on any personal allegations against the minister.
He said BJP leaders had flagged suspicious entries after noticing multiple voters with identical names and fathers’ names in the same Assembly constituency as well as neighbouring villages.
The issue, he asserted, was raised solely on the basis of documentary evidence available in the electoral rolls.
Taking note of Patil’s clarification issued, Bommai said it was now incumbent upon the election authorities to conduct a detailed verification instead of dismissing the issue.
He alleged that the discrepancies extended beyond Patil’s case, claiming there were several instances of four to five voter entries under the same name, with multiple examples already brought to the authorities’ notice.
Describing the alleged anomalies as a matter of grave concern, Bommai said such errors continuing even after the Election Commission’s voter mapping exercise raised serious questions over the integrity of the electoral database.
He urged the Chief Electoral Officer to personally oversee a thorough investigation into the issue.
“I have merely placed before the public the information available with me. I have made no personal allegation against HK Patil. Therefore, there is no question of apologising. The demand that I should apologise is laughable,” Bommai said.
The BJP leader’s remarks are expected to intensify the political battle over the accuracy of Karnataka’s electoral rolls, with the issue increasingly emerging as a fresh flashpoint between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP.
