Karnataka Congress to Launch Statewide ‘Save Vote, Save Country’ March from Oct 10

Bengaluru, Oct 9 : The Karnataka Congress will launch a statewide ‘Save Vote, Save Country’ campaign from October 10 to 20, organising block-level padayatras to raise awareness about alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and what it describes as “vote theft”.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president BK Hariprasad said the marches would be held in every block across the state, covering a maximum distance of five km.

The padayatras will begin at the statues of Mahatma Gandhi or Dr B R Ambedkar and culminate at the respective Deputy Commissioners’ offices. Senior leaders at the block level will participate in the marches, he said.

Following the padayatras, party workers will meet the Deputy Commissioners, sing the National Anthem and burn an effigy of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

“During Dasara, we will create awareness among people about the consequences of vote theft,” Hariprasad said.

The Congress will organise further programmes, including public meetings and press conferences, from October 25 to November 25. State-level leaders will participate in protests in their respective districts, while block presidents and Booth Level Agents-2 will receive training to identify and prevent alleged irregularities in electoral rolls, he said.

Hariprasad said the party would identify voters whose names had been deleted through Form 7 and other applications and hold meetings with them to address their grievances.

Voters whose names had been removed through the ASDDO process would be verified through surveys at the panchayat level, he added.

Alleging manipulation of electoral rolls in several parts of Karnataka, Hariprasad cited Vijayapura, where he claimed that the names of living women had been included in lists of deceased persons and death certificates had been submitted.

In Malleswaram, the party had identified 1,211 allegedly affected votes, while 1,108 applications had been submitted across different polling booths on the same day, he claimed.

The Congress has intensified its campaign against alleged electoral irregularities and demanded accountability over the deletion of voters’ names from electoral rolls.