Women allege living voters were shown as ‘dead’; seek criminal case against Yatnal

Eight Muslim women from Vijayapura have alleged that they were wrongly shown as “deceased” in documents submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI). They demanded that a criminal case be registered against Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, expelled from the BJP, and those responsible for submitting the alleged bogus death certificates.

The women made the allegations at a press conference by Jagrutha Karnataka, a social-political organisation, here on Wednesday. They also displayed copies of the death certificates and other documents which, they claimed, had been used to show them as dead.

Representatives of the organisation alleged Mr. Yatnal had submitted the list in a letter dated August 31, a week after the publication of the draft electoral rolls on August 24. The organisation questioned how the names of voters across 198 polling stations could have been matched with details of deceased persons within such a short period.