SIR: Basanagouda Patil Yatnal denies he is targetting Muslim voters

Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, expelled BJP MLA and Hindutva leader, has denied that he and his followers were targetting Muslim voters and filing objections against their inclusion in electoral rolls in Vijayapura district.

He was responding to allegations made by Minister M.B. Patil, Congress leader A.H. Mushrif and others, that he and his team were filing bulk third-party objections against eligible voters from the minority community.

“Such allegations are false. We have filed objections against inclusion of over 28,300 suspect voters. They include the dead, non-residents, non-Indians, duplicate voters. The objections were not filed on the basis of their religious affiliation. This has upset several anti-Hindutva forces in the district, who are making all kinds of wild allegations against us,” Mr. Yatnal told reporters.

“Mr. Patil’s followers are misguiding him. A few leaders who are speaking against me are insecure about their future. They are afraid that I will be re-elected in the next polls. After I was elected, the city is peaceful and is developing. Some anti-Hindutva leaders are unable to digest this,” he said.

He alleged that the ruling Congress was putting pressure on officials to reject objections filed by the BJP and his team. “My only demand before the district administration in charge of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is that they should probe into our allegations and take action to weed out all ineligible voters,” he said.

To a query, the expelled BJP MLA said that his team had filed objections as per the SIR rules. We have provided all documents to the Elector Registration Officers. Our Booth Level Agents have submitted documents like death certificates, copies of their duplicate EPIC cards, part numbers of roll extracts, and residence proof in cases of shifted voters.

He said he had no clear idea about how many bulk objections were filed in the district. “I will speak only about those filed by my team and about those filed by BJP office-bearers. For the sake of argument, let us say I am lying and filing false objections. But it is the duty of the SIR officials to scrutinise all our objections, file reports to the Election Commission of India and give us acknowledgements. Why are other people talking about it?,” he said.

Mr. Yatnal said, “We have not gone down to the level of some Muslim leaders who are old hands in bogus voting. It is the Muslims who are doing goondagiri. Hindus are not like that. Hindus have never committed offences like bogus voting,” he said in response to a query.

He said he was on friendly terms with Mr. Patil when it comes to attending community functions, local cooperative bodies and other issues, but remained his political rival.

“Mr. Patil may be a good man. But he is being misled by his followers over many things, including the SIR. I want to advice Mr. Patil. You (Mr. Patil) should realise that you are surrounded by dangerous elements. People considered your ‘right hand’ and close loyalists are cheating the common people in Vijayapura by creating false records of lands, registering them in their names, without the knowledge or consent of the real owners. Former Superintendent of Police Hrishikesh Sonawane who was investigating into such cases was transferred by these forces. Mr. Patil should stay away from such people. Or else, they will lead him to his downfall,” Mr. Yatnal said.