D.K. Shivakumar responds to reporters near Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru on Friday. Frame from supplied video.
Bengaluru: D.K. Shivakumar denied staging a protest at the election office, saying he had submitted a representation to protect voters’ rights and stayed there until the matter was addressed. He said authorities could register a case if he had violated the law.
Speaking to reporters near Gandhi Bhavan on Friday, Shivakumar rejected the description of his visit as a protest. He said he went to the Election Commission as a public representative, submitted an application and remained there because he wanted action on his demands.
His response comes amid the controversy over his visit to the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, which The Bengaluru Live earlier reported as a dharna seeking a criminal case over alleged Form 7 voter deletion.
Says visit was to protect voters’ rights
Shivakumar described the Election Commission as a constitutional body and said his purpose was to safeguard voters’ rights. He maintained that submitting a representation and waiting for the issue to be addressed did not amount to staging a protest.
According to his account, officials asked him to return another day. He said he did not have time to come back and wanted the matter dealt with that day. Several ministers had accompanied him, he added.
Responds to demands for action
Shivakumar said opposition leaders were free to approach the courts or the authorities. If his actions had broken the law, the authorities could register a case, he said.
The demand for action has also been raised by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, who questioned the absence of an FIR over the election-office dharna, and opposition leader R. Ashoka, who sought an FIR against Shivakumar and the ministers.
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