Pic: Stany Bela
Media Release
Mangaluru, May 4: The district unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) questioned the working of Election Commission in preparation and publication of electoral rolls for Karnataka South-west teacher's constituency.
Addressing media at press club, Rajendra Kumar K P, DK convener, AAP said, “The Election Commission published the final electoral roll for Karnataka South-West Teacher's Constituency on January 19 and also made it available to the public online. However, the same was removed from public domain in the first week of April. The Election Commission has given no specific reason for doing so and it is understood by many to be due to a possible revision of the electoral rolls.”
Further he said that AAP-DK has demanded an explanation from the Election Commission on the following fronts:
1. Last date for receiving completed application forms from the registered teachers was 7th December 2017. Based on the application received, the Election Commission published the final electoral roll on 19th January 2018. When the election is likely to be in June 2018, why was the electoral rolls removed from public domain?
2. Till date, the Election Commission has not called for fresh applications from the teachers who might have missed out in November-December 2017. Election Commission to confirm whether electoral rolls will remain the same and no new additions will be made as all applications received till 7th December have supposedly been included in voters list.
3. Many colleges have submitted their teaching staff applications in bulk to the EC. It has come to the notice of AAP that very few of the submitted lot are registered while many are missing. Election Commission must confirm whether all applications received till Deecember 7, 2017, have been enrolled.
4. While there is strict guidance from the Election Commission that no third party can submit application of the teachers, many political parties and their agents have approached the educational institutions for facilitating voters' registrations. It is also noted that Election Commission officials are not acknowledging the applications received by giving back the stamped/signed acknowledgement form. The Election Commission has to confirm whether their staff is duly acknowledging the application forms received and is not entertaining political parties and their agents.
5. Many teachers are complaining that their names do not appear on the electoral rolls even though they have submitted the forms, some even doing so twice or thrice. It is unfortunate that they have not collected the acknowledgement forms as they trusted the Election Commission office. At the same time it is the duty of the concerned officials to hand them the acknowledgement forms. AAP regrets the missing of many teachers in the voting list which may be caused by the working style of the Election Commission.
6. Any addition to the final voters list will provide an opportunity for manipulation of voters by vested groups and hence credibility of Election Commission is diminished. AAP strongly objects to revision of current final voters list.
Rajendra Kumar said that AAP-DK has registered a complaint with the public grievance redressal officer vide email No: AAP/Complaint/001 dated April 14, 2018 and has marked a copy to relevant officials and also local authority - deputy commissioner, DK. A hard copy was also submitted to DC office for records. He also added that the EC had not replied on this subject so far.
Hasanabba, DK volunteer, AAP was also present.