Garhwal Post Bureau
New Delhi, 20 Aug: Senior Congress leaders Pritam Singh, Harak Singh Rawat, Qazi Nizamuddin and Karan Mahara today addressed a press conference here and alleged that large-scale irregularities and fraud are being committed in Uttarakhand in the name of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. They claimed that the applications for deletion of voters’ names are being submitted in large numbers in the names of certain persons, in violation of the prescribed rules. The leaders also alleged that they tried to meet the Election Commissioners in Delhi today to brief them about the ‘SIR fraud’ in Uttarakhand, but they were not given any appointment by the Election Commission. They condemned this action by the ECI.
The Congress leaders said that before coming to the Election Commission office in Delhi today, they had submitted a memorandum at the Election Commission office in Uttarakhand and had also sought a meeting with the officials. They alleged that despite this, their concerns had not been adequately addressed.
According to the Congress leaders, a person cannot submit more than five applications under the SIR exercise, but hundreds and even thousands of applications are allegedly being submitted in the name of a single person in Uttarakhand. They termed the development a matter of serious concern and alleged that a massive fraud is being committed in the name of the electoral roll revision.
They further alleged that serious irregularities are taking place in the process of seeking deletion of voters’ names from the electoral rolls. The Congress leaders accused the Election Commission of acting at the behest of those in power and alleged that the exercise was being used to deprive people of their right to vote.
The leaders said they had come to the Election Commission office in Delhi to place their concerns before the poll panel regarding the alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise in Uttarakhand. However, they claimed that their experience after reaching the office had reinforced their apprehension that the Election Commission is not functioning in an impartial manner.
They also alleged that they were not allowed to enter the Election Commission office and strongly condemned the manner in which their leaders were treated. The Congress leaders said such treatment was unacceptable, particularly when they had come to submit a memorandum concerning the electoral rights of people in Uttarakhand.
The press conference was jointly addressed by Pritam Singh, Harak Singh Rawat, Qazi Nizamuddin and Karan Mahara, along with Gurdeep Sappal and they sought the Election Commission’s intervention into what they described as serious irregularities in the ongoing SIR exercise in Uttarakhand.
