Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar has sought a constituency-wise account of objections filed to delete voters from the electoral rolls as a civil society audit of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) alleged that thousands of voters had been wrongly marked absent, shifted or dead.
He said he had asked the Chief Electoral Officer to provide details of Form 7 objections, including bulk applications and those submitted without the prescribed reasons or mandatory particulars needed to seek deletion of a voter. The audit cited one Bengaluru locality where 826 of 1,300 residents were classified as shifted even though they have continued to live at the same addresses and had submitted their enumeration forms. 1.08 crore voters were placed in the ‘absent, shifted, dead, duplicate and others (ASDDO)’ categories during the revision, according to the report. The figure included 65.45 lakh classified as shifted, 15.17 lakh as absent, 16.39 lakh as deceased, 7.09 lakh as duplicate and 3.83 lakh under other categories. The civil society survey said Bengaluru saw a 43.6% reduction in its draft electoral roll, from 1.11 crore voters to 48.48 lakh. Official SIR data had put 46.88 lakh Bengaluru voters in the ASDDO categories.
Shivakumar also questioned the use of pre-printed voter details in objections. “I have also called for FIRs against those found involved in such criminal activities, as attempts to manipulate the electoral roll and communalise the process cannot be allowed. Shivakumar’s statement came on the day a delegation led by actor and activist Prakash Raj submitted a survey related to the SIR process to him at his Bengaluru residence. The report was prepared by the Anti SIR Alliance and Citizens’ Vote Protection Committee. It called for further verification of deletions and restoration of names found to have been wrongly removed. It also recorded cases in which living voters were listed as dead.
“Every genuine voter’s right to vote must be protected,” Shivakumar said in a social media post on Wednesday night. “The submission of objections on pre-printed voter details further raises concerns of a systematic attempt to subvert the SIR process,” he said. Shivakumar said FIRs should be registered against people found involved in criminal activity connected with the revision. Copies of such FIRs should be sent to the Chief Secretary,” he said. The report said the exclusions had affected poorer and marginalised communities, including Dalits, Adivasis, nomadic groups and Muslims, as well as women.
