Union minister of state for home Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Saturday challenged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Congress leaders, who have been campaigning against electronic voting machines (EVMs), to dissolve the government and face fresh elections using ballot papers.
Speaking at a press conference at the BJP state office, Sanjay Kumar said he would try to ensure that elections were held through ballot papers if the ruling party leaders accepted his challenge.
He said that instead of the Congress dharna scheduled in New Delhi on Sunday, people were discussing the massacre of 3,000 Sikhs on November 1 during the Congress regime. He said the Congress should first apologise to the Sikh community.
Sanjay Kumar alleged that the Congress was not concerned about public problems even as the state faced drought and crops were withering. Instead, he said, the party was campaigning against constitutional bodies, which he described as pillars of democracy.
Referring to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, he said the process had been carried out 12 times between 1952 and 2025. He questioned why the Congress had not opposed it when it was conducted 10 times during its rule.
He said the SIR process had also been implemented during the governments of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. “If congress wins, SIR would be good. Otherwise, it was bad,” he said.
Questioning the Congress claim that 13 crore votes had been deleted from the electoral rolls, Sanjay Kumar said the figures included 2.8 crore deceased voters, one crore people registered to vote at multiple places and 6.30 crore people who had permanently migrated. He said they had not responded to notices issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
He said 13 crore votes had not been deleted and that the list was only a draft. Voters could retain their names by producing evidence, he added.
Sanjay Kumar said it was “ridiculous” for the Congress, which claimed credit for securing independence for the country, to work with political parties that were operating with foreign funds and forces seeking to disintegrate the country.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
