Anil Benake addressing a press conference in Bengaluru. Photo: Anil Benake/Facebook video.
Bengaluru: BJP state vice-president Anil Benake alleged that Belagavi North had more than 10,000 bogus voters and that party workers were being intimidated when they tried to submit Form 7 objections to entries in the electoral roll.
Speaking at the BJP’s Jagannath Bhavan office in Bengaluru on October 12, Benake said he would meet the Deputy Commissioner on October 13 to raise complaints about officials allegedly refusing to accept the objections.
Benake claimed that 389 voters were listed at a single house in the constituency. He also alleged that another house had 20 bogus voter names and that 15 had been included at another location, citing ward and booth details while making the claims.
Allegations over Form 7 submissions
According to Benake, party workers had submitted ten forms each at several booths across different constituencies. He said BJP booth-level agents would not be deterred by threats.
He alleged that forms had been snatched away and workers told they could not submit Form 7. The government was using the police to register cases against three people from his side and 20 others, he claimed. Following the registration of an FIR, they had moved to seek anticipatory bail, he said.
Booth-level officers were now unwilling to accept applications from them because they feared FIRs, Benake alleged. He further claimed that assistant registration officers were threatening to suspend BLOs who had accepted Form 7 applications.
Benake said objections concerning booths 196 and 197 were not being accepted. In some places, he alleged, information had not been provided even after applications were submitted and fees paid.
Deputy Commissioner meeting planned
The BJP leader said the party had sought an inquiry into entries relating to deceased people, people no longer present at the listed location and those whose names appeared in two places, with a request to remove such entries after investigation.
He alleged that police began pursuing them after the Chief Minister instructed that FIRs be registered, and said objection applications were now being refused. Benake contrasted this with the Chief Minister and the Congress state president protesting in Delhi, questioning why objections raised by his party locally were not being accepted.
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