Bengaluru, 3 October

Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday hit back at the BJP, asking if he should file FIRs every time the RSS marches “all around Bengaluru”.

What locus standi does the BJP have to file “false FIRs” against the Congress for meeting the Chief Electoral Officer, Priyank asked when speaking to reporters in Bengaluru.

Priyank charged that the BJP was acting like the “spokesperson” of the Election Commission of India, and alleged that members of the saffron party themselves had distributed “pre-printed” Form 7 seeking to delete members from a “particular community”.

The BJP should answer “why their karyakartas who are not BLAs are going and asking for bulk deletion of voters,” he added, saying it was the duty of a responsible government to flag such “violations”.