Cong to launch door-to-door campaign, hold marches over voter list 'discrepancies'

Congress alleged that crores of voters across the country had been unfairly deprived of their voting rights due to large-scale deletions and discrepancies in electoral rolls.

NEW DELHI: The Congress will hold marches, conduct door-to-door visits and organise awareness meetings to address alleged irregularities in electoral rolls. The party will also ensure all eligible citizens are registered by the end of December, senior party leader and former Union minister Bharatsinh Solanki said on Saturday. Congress plans to appoint booth-level agents to verify voter lists and flag discrepancies to election authorities. Addressing a press conference, Solanki, an All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer, said the campaign would cover rural and remote areas as well as urban centres. It aims to put a special focus on disadvantaged communities and young voters. The party will distribute pamphlets and hold meetings to raise awareness about the issue, he added. Solanki alleged that crores of voters across the country had been unfairly deprived of their voting rights due to large-scale deletions and discrepancies in electoral rolls. He accused the Centre and the Election Commission of allowing electoral procedures to be misused. "The country's democracy and Constitution are under threat amid rising inflation, unemployment and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about electoral malpractices," he said.

Congress to appoint booth-level agents

As part of the campaign, the Congress will appoint a booth level agent-2 (BLA-2) at every polling booth to work alongside booth level officers (BLOs) and verify electoral rolls through door-to-door visits, Solanki said.

The party will submit complaints to the relevant authorities over discrepancies and, if necessary, approach district election officials, the state election machinery and the Supreme Court, he added.

Solanki flags discrepancies in Latur

Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Solanki said the exercise had previously been undertaken in 12 states and was currently underway in 17 states. He alleged that the ECI, despite being an independent constitutional body, was facing pressure from those in power. Citing Latur city constituency, he said around 45,000 voter entries had been identified as suspicious or potentially affected by discrepancies. These included more than 12,000 entries relating to deceased voters, over 6,000 suspected duplicate entries, and names of people who were absent, had migrated or were listed at incorrect addresses, he said.