Altercation between Congress and BJP workers over SIR in Belagavi

Tension prevailed in Belagavi for some time after workers of the BJP and Congress got into an altercation regarding the irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the State.

Some Congress workers alleged that Ravi Patil, a BJP leader, was using his hospital staff to remove a large number of names from the voters’ list, especially those from Muslim families.

Aman Sait, a youth Congress leader, at the governance Urdu school in Veerabhadra Nagar, alleged that Dr. Patil fudged documents to create a large number of Form 7 applications to delete the names of eligible voters.

He also alleged that the BJP leader’s staff had impersonated city corporation staff to file false objections to the inclusions in the voter lists. Mr. Sait showed some Form 7 applications that were signed by the Booth Level Officers. He said BJP workers had submitted over 200 Form 7 applications objecting to the inclusion of other voters.

At this time, a team of BJP workers led by Murughendragouda Patil entered the school and picked up a quarrel with the Congress workers. Mr. Murughendragouda Patil argued that it was the right of residents to object to the inclusion of any person based on sound suspicion.

Police present at the location intervened and brought the situation under control. They took workers from both parties to the Market Police Station. Police officers told the two groups to file written complaints with the Belagavi City Corporation officers in charge of the SIR process.