Bengaluru: Actor Prakash Raj, representing civil society organisations in Karnataka on Tuesday introduced an “Election Fee Chalo” marketing campaign on September 1 in Bengaluru, protesting the SIR of electoral rolls and alleging that the train was “flawed” and “unscientific”.
They claimed that lakhs of eligible voters had been excluded from the draft electoral rolls and demanded that the train be halted.
Addressing a press convention in Bengaluru, Prakash Raj, mentioned the Karnataka civil society organisations had determined to launch the marketing campaign in opposition to the Particular Intensive Revision course of, alleging discrepancies within the train. The organisations would strategy the courts looking for a halt to all the course of.
“So this can be a very large battle…,” he mentioned.
The organisations and civil society platforms embody Eddelu Karnataka, Muslim Muthahade Mahaz, Namma Mata Namma Hakku Vedike, Lively Bangalore and Nagarika Mata Kavalu Samithi.
“On the primary of the month (September), we’ll begin an Election Fee Chalo protest with the folks of Karnataka who’ve been affected-the distressed voters-from tomorrow itself; there shall be press conferences in each district,” Raj mentioned.
He mentioned the civil society teams would have interaction with the Karnataka authorities and symbolize the issues of affected voters earlier than the Election Fee.
Raj alleged that the SIR course of had been carried out with out ample preparation, skilled election officers or correct communication with voters.
He questioned the deletion of voters categorised as absent or completely shifted, saying such voters ought to be given an ample alternative to ascertain their continued eligibility as an alternative of being required to re-enroll via Kind 6.
The nationwide award successful actor additionally criticised the dimensions and timeline of the train in Karnataka.
“Now we have two years earlier than the following (Meeting) election. You can not full this train involving greater than 5 crore voters in a single month. You must have introduced it six months upfront,” he mentioned.
The transfer comes a day after Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar mentioned Karnataka had greater than 4.46 crore electors within the draft electoral rolls printed on Monday following the SIR course of.
In accordance with information shared by the CEO’s workplace, a complete of 1,07,96,339 electors, or 19.48 per cent, have been marked as ASDDO.
The ASDDO classes comprise Absent, Shifted, Lifeless, Duplicate and Others.
Bengaluru City district, together with the BBMP limits, has 1,03,88,363 electors, of whom 46,82,703 are within the ASDDO record, in accordance with the information.
In an announcement shared with the media, the organisations clarified that their allegations weren’t directed in opposition to Anbukkumar, who was tasked with implementing the SIR course of, or the Sales space Degree Officers who labored throughout the train.
“It’s directed on the Election Fee of India, which designed this unscientific, unconstitutional and ill-intentioned course of and imposed it on the folks of the nation,” it mentioned.
The organisations alleged that all the course of had been carried out in an “unscientific” and “undemocratic” method.
They mentioned that of the 5.54 crore electors on Karnataka’s 2025 electoral roll, 1.08 crore electors had been positioned within the ASDDO classes, whereas 43.8 lakh electors amongst these remaining on the draft roll had, in accordance with the organisations, been handled as “suspicious voters” and can be issued notices looking for proof of citizenship.
The organisations mentioned that they had no basic objection to deletions below the ‘useless’ and ‘duplicate’ classes, although some errors existed there as properly, however raised severe objections to deletions below the ‘absent’, ‘shifted’ and ‘others’ classes.
In accordance with them, ‘absent’ refers to eligible voters who have been away from house for work or different causes and couldn’t be met by BLOs. ‘Others’ contains individuals who obtained the enumeration type however didn’t submit it, with the organisations alleging that accountability for such non-submission had been positioned on the voters.
They alleged that below the ‘shifted’ class, voters who had merely modified rented lodging or moved to a different city had been deleted as an alternative of being given a chance to switch their votes to their new addresses.
“In a few of these circumstances, the vote continues to be registered on the outdated deal with; the particular person has since moved and even obtained a brand new card on the new deal with. Many individuals now discover themselves in a state of affairs of belonging neither right here nor there,” the organisations mentioned.
They mentioned there was no breakdown exhibiting what number of voters had merely misplaced their voting rights and what number of had moved elsewhere and obtained new voter playing cards.
The teams mentioned they might not settle for the method carried out by the ECI, the figures offered by it or the reasons provided for them, and termed the train a “flawed, uncivil course of”.
They demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whom they accused of designing the “flawed and malicious course of”.
The organisations mentioned they would seem earlier than the Election Fee with “residing witnesses” throughout the September 1 protest march to exhibit how the SIR course of had allegedly gone mistaken.
