Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to petition EC for ballot papers in state polls

RAICHUR: Expressing concerns over malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Chief Minister Siddaramaiah plans to ask Election Commision (EC) to re-introduce ballot system for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Friday, Siddaramaiah said he would write a letter to the Election Commission to bring back ballot voting system for the state polls.Siddaramaiah visited Manvi taluk as part of state government’s ‘Sadhane Sambhrama’ rally and laid stones to various development programmes to the tune of `341 crore. Raising doubts over BJP’s electoral victories, the Chief Minister said he suspected something wrong with the EVMs. “BJP is winning election after election. I strongly suspect that EVMs are being tampered with to favour the BJP on a large scale. Hence to hold transparent polling, ballot system should be reintroduced,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said even as mood was against the BJP, the party has been on the winning streak. This could only happen if EVMs were tampered, he said.Launching a scathing attack on BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, he said BJP’s ‘Mission-150’ has now defused. “Yeddyurappa’s administration was in a shambles. Yeddyurappa, in all the rallies, has been lying to the people saying he had given sarees and bicycles, but nothing had materialised,” he pointed.

The Chief Minister reiterated that he has fulfilled almost all promises made in the election manifesto. Recalling that his government had waived off farmers’ loan up to `50,000, he said “Has Modi-led BJP government waived off `40,000 crore farmers’ debt? Even when the all-party delegation led by me met Modi, he did not agree to a loan waiver.”

Referring to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar’s statement “Siddaramaiah by waiving off loans gave lollipops to the farmers”, Siddaramaiah said the former had insulted the farmers. He asked what moral right BJP had to question Congress’ commitment towards farmers.Listing out his programmes, the Chief Minister said the state introduced flavoured milk to children and many children hailing from Raichur and Kalaburagi benefitted from it as they suffer from malnutrition. “150 online agri markets have been opened, `430 crore released for Narayanapura right bank canal, `40,000 crore have been spent for various irrigation projects and before the end of March 52,000 crore will be spent on same,” he said.

He noted that for Hyderabad-Karnataka region, amendment to Article 371 was made by the Congress party. As a result, the region bagged 2,500 medical seats, 18,000 engineering seats and 40 probationary posts. He added the state will send a delegation to meet Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states to discuss on releasing water from Tungabhadra. Later, he also addressed a rally in Sindhanur.

Cong worker loses D1L
A Congress worker lost `1 lakh at rally in Sindhanur. The money was stolen from his pocket by pickpockets. He had kept the money to pay the bills of make-shift stage building.