Congress, BJP workers clash in Belagavi over SIR voter deletions

Tension gripped parts of Belagavi after workers of the Congress and the BJP confronted each other over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka.

Congress workers alleged that Ravi Patil, a BJP leader, was using staff at his hospital to strike off a large number of names from the voters' list, particularly those of Muslim families.

At the governance Urdu school in Veerabhadra Nagar, youth Congress leader Aman Sait alleged that Dr. Patil had tampered with documents to generate a large number of Form 7 applications aimed at deleting the names of eligible voters. He further alleged that the BJP leader's staff had posed as city corporation personnel to file false objections against inclusions in the voter lists.

Mr. Sait displayed some Form 7 applications bearing the signatures of Booth Level Officers, and claimed that BJP workers had submitted more than 200 such applications objecting to the inclusion of other voters.

As the allegations were being aired, a group of BJP workers led by Murughendragouda Patil arrived at the school and entered into a quarrel with the Congress workers. Mr. Murughendragouda Patil contended that residents had the right to object to the inclusion of any person on the basis of sound suspicion.

Police personnel present at the spot intervened and brought the situation under control. Workers from both sides were taken to the Market Police Station, where officers directed the two groups to submit written complaints to the Belagavi City Corporation officials in charge of the SIR process.