Divisional-level convention of Congress BLAs in Mangaluru on June 23

The Congress will hold a convention of its booth-level assistants (BLAs) from Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts at Kudmul Rangarao Town Hall in Mangaluru on June 23.

Talking to reporters in Mangaluru on Saturday, K. Harish Kumar, president of the Dakshina Kannada Congress Committee, said most of the BLAs from 1,912 polling booths in Dakshina Kannada will attend the event. Twenty-five BLAs, each from Chikkamagaluru, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts, will also attend the programme. The new president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, B.K. Hariprasad, will be part of the event.

Senior Congress leader B. Ramanath Rai said the party is serious about ensuring that no eligible voter is left out of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The BLAs will be trained to assist voters in submitting forms and the necessary documents for inclusion in the electoral roll. “We will ensure that no valid voter is denied his or her right to vote,” he said.

Mr. Rai claimed that the SIR was not conducted properly in West Bengal, whereas in Kerala no voter was left out of the exercise.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kumar welcomed the announcement by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to hold a Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru. Mr. Shivakumar is working on the development of Coastal Karnataka and has directed officials to resolve, at the earliest, issues related to Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms and other technical hurdles affecting the region’s development, he said.