Foreigners voting threatens nation's unity: Om Pathak

Bengaluru, Oct 6 (IANS) If foreigners infiltrate and are allowed to vote as Indian citizens, it will endanger the unity and integrity of the country, stated Om Pathak, Chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Central Disciplinary Committee in Bengaluru on Monday.

Om Pathak made the statement while speaking to the media on the occasion of the inauguration of the Booth Level Agents (BLA-1) state-level workshop that was held on Monday at the Bharat Scouts and Guides Bhavan.

Om Pathak said that the Election Commission has decided to conduct a Special Intensive Revision of the voter lists across the country. The process has already been completed in Bihar, and the announcement will soon be made for West Bengal, Assam, and Karnataka, he stated.

He emphasised that citizenship is mandatory to become a voter.

Until 2004, Special Intensive Revision was conducted regularly, but later it was discontinued, he criticized.

Calling the move for fresh revision a positive and meaningful step, he welcomed it.

He added that political parties achieve victory based on their programmes, policies, and dialogue with the people. For this, purification of the voter list is very essential, he underlined. He also recalled his close association with Bengaluru on the occasion.

“In Bihar, a new voter list has already been published. Names of the deceased and those no longer residing in the area have been removed. We are confident that, going forward, there will be no scope for bogus voters,” Om Pathak asserted.

Karnataka BJP State President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra, BJP National Secretary Rituraj Sinha, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalawadi Narayanaswamy, Chief Whip of the Opposition in the Legislative Council N. Ravikumar, State General Secretaries Preetham Gowda, P. Rajeev and Nandeesh Reddy, State Vice President N. Mahesh, MLAs Bharathi Shetty, Hemalatha Nayak, Shashikala Jolle, Bhagirathi Murulya, along with other senior party leaders were present on the occasion.

--IANS

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