Karnataka has received 110,654 applications seeking objections to proposed entries or deletions of names as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls proceeds, with the Election Commission setting October 22 as the deadline to dispose of claims and objections and October 27 for publication of the final roll.
The figures, released by the office of Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar on Friday, come amid a political dispute over allegations that bulk Form 7 applications have been used to target voters and police cases against BJP workers who submitted them. As of October 9, Karnataka had 45,161,393 registered electors: 22,403,422 men, 22,755,113 women and 2,858 transgender voters. Election officials generated 4,382,315 notices during the revision, delivering 4,373,745, or 99.80% of them. Hearings had been completed for 4,088,099 of the delivered notices, representing 93.47%, while 285,646 cases remained pending. The final hearing is scheduled for October 12. Between June 16 and October 8, the state received 23,02,215 applications under four categories. These comprised 9,52,497 Form 6 applications for inclusion in electoral rolls, 4,712 Form 6A applications from Indian citizens living abroad seeking enrolment, 1,10,654 Form 7 applications seeking objections to proposed inclusions or deletion of existing entries, and 12,34,352 Form 8 applications for corrections, changes of address and replacement of voter identity cards. The Chief Electoral Officer’s office said constituency-wise information on claims and objections submitted through Forms 9, 10, 11, 11A and 11B had been published on the Election Commission of India’s website. He questioned why the BJP should answer for the conduct of an exercise administered by the Election Commission and accused the Congress government of pressuring the police to register cases against party workers over Form 7 applications.
BJP state president BY Vijayendra accused the Congress government of using the controversy to intimidate his party’s workers, while defending the revision exercise as an effort to remove irregularities from voter lists. The BJP leader accused Chief Minister DK Shivakumar of using the dispute to target his party and alleged that the Congress was portraying the applications as an attempt to remove votes belonging to AHINDA communities, a term used for minorities, backward classes and Dalits.
