'We should feel ashamed': Karnataka minister Rajanna questions Congress on 'vote theft' claim; asked to quit post

NEW DELHI: Congress leader KN Rajanna submitted his resignation from the post of Karnataka Cooperation Minister on Monday after the party’s high command reportedly asked him to step down.

This followed his critical remarks about his own party, where he expressed concern that they had failed to address alleged lapses in the electoral rolls before the election. He stated that the party “should feel ashamed” because these “irregularities happened right in front of our eyes.”

While he supported the party's "irregularity" charge, Rajanna also questioned the alacrity of the Congress party, saying the voter list was prepared when Congress was in power.

"At that time, was everyone just sitting quietly with eyes closed?" he asked, adding that the party "should feel ashamed".

ALSO READ: Rahul Gandhi refuses to sign oath on 'vote-theft' claim after protest near EC HQ

"Look, if we just start talking about such things casually, there will be different opinions. When was the voter list prepared? It was prepared when our own government was in power. At that time, was everyone just sitting quietly with eyes closed? These irregularities did take place — that’s the truth. There is nothing false in this. These irregularities happened right in front of our eyes — we should feel ashamed," the Karnataka minister told news agency PTI.


The leader further said that at a time when the party should have filed objections, "it kept quiet".

"We didn’t take care of it at the time. That’s why we must be alert in the future....In Mahadevapura, there was indeed fraud. One person was registered in three different places and voted in all three. But when the draft electoral rolls are being prepared, we have to monitor it, right?...When the draft electoral rolls are made, we must file objections — that is our responsibility. At that time, we kept quiet and now we are talking," he said.

Rajanna's remark undoubtedly miffed the party high command, which held a march to the Election Commission of India (ECI) over alleged "vote chori".


Karnataka duputy CM DK Shivakumar said Rajanna was "totally at fault" and that the party's leadership will reply to his remarks.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi declined to sign a sworn declaration backing his "vote-theft" allegations against the Election Commission of India, despite repeated calls from the poll body.

ALSO READ: Congress launches campaign against 'vote chori'; urges citizens to register

Reiterating that the documents he cited for his “vote theft” claims came from the Election Commission’s own data, the Congress leader called it a fight for “One Man, One Vote” and questioned the state of democracy, noting that “300 MPs” were denied a meeting with the poll body.

His remarks came after being released from Delhi Police detention during the INDIA bloc’s protest march to the EC office. "Why should I sign an oath? This is their data, not mine. They should take it from their own website. They are just diverting attention. And no one should think this happened only in Bengaluru; it happened in many constituencies. Today, the Election Commission is trying to hide something, but I want to tell you that one day, everything will come out," he said.


ALSO READ: EC repeats 'sign declaration or apologise' dare; adds ‘Rahul still has time’