With a slight tweak in the voters’ list to shift half of the Dalit residents into the neighbouring division, the marginalised community became shrunken in population and their collective bargaining power diluted.
Though a majority in this locality, the community lost reservation status and as such, representation in both the wards.
Mariapuram, Bhavani Nagar, Marathi Street, and Arundhati Nagar fall under the 40th division of Kadapa municipal corporation. Of the 5,100 votes, around 2,200 votes have allegedly been shifted ‘clandestinely’ to the adjoining 41st division by an upper caste leader belonging to the ruling party, who reportedly nurtures aspiration to jump into the fray in elections.
According to the victims to whom The Hindu spoke, it all started in March this year, when electoral rolls were being readied ahead of the local body polls. “Our ward has traditionally been reserved to Scheduled Castes, but an upper caste leader wants to contest this time and has rendered this injustice. In the name of bifurcation, the Dalit votes have been shared between the two divisions, making our voice feeble in both places,” charges a resident, J. Jayaraj, who is an advocate by profession.
Many Dalit residents of the 40th division are up in arms against the injustice, which they feel makes their votes ‘ineffective’.
‘Not properly done’
The process of bifurcating the division also raised eyebrows. While half of the residents have been moved to the adjoining 41st division, Ramarajupalle and Chavatapalle, nearly 2 km away, have been added to this 40th ward. “Also, there seems to be no clear-cut procedure followed in bifurcating the division. Some door numbers in the same street are randomly strewn across, which raises suspicion,” points out G.S.T. Lakshman Rao, secretary of BJP Kadapa city unit, who has taken cudgels in support of the victims.
The residents, led by former MPTC V. Joseph, have submitted representations to the Collector and Joint Collector with a plea to undo the ‘injustice’. Also, the 2,000 and odd residents have filed individual applications to the Revenue Divisional Officer for restoration of their voting rights in their traditional division.
