‘Karnataka will not accept an unjust outcome’: Civil society groups urge CM Shivakumar to challenge SIR

With more than 1.08 crore voters in Karnataka classified under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) category, a coalition of civil society organisations has urged Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to challenge the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), including by seeking an Assembly resolution and approaching the Supreme Court if the ECI does not agree to extend or review the exercise.

In an letter to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar signed by actor Prakash Raj and members of civil society organisations such as Eddelu Karnataka and My Vote, My Right, the groups said the SIR had produced “nothing less than shocking” results in Karnataka, with “the highest proportion of deletions in the entire country” being “orchestrated in Karnataka”.

They have asked the State government to first seek a three-month extension of the enumeration phase and conduct the entire revision over a period of one year. If the ECI refuses, the groups said the matter should be taken up in the Assembly, with the government passing a resolution urging the ECI to take corrective action. “If necessary, it should also approach the Supreme Court to protect the interests of the State,” the letter said.

The organisations said Karnataka should also send a political message to the Centre if the exercise results in eligible voters being left out. “If every eligible voter of Karnataka is not included with dignity in the electoral rolls, and if the rights of lakhs of eligible voters are taken away, a message should also be sent to the Centre that Karnataka will not accept such an unjust outcome of the SIR process,” they said.

The demand comes amid concerns that a large number of voters classified under the ASDDO category could be deleted from the voter rolls.

Pointing out that more than 80% of the total deletions fall under the categories of Shifted, Absent, and Others, the groups said, “Many elderly people have been marked as ‘dead’… People who had gone elsewhere for work were being shown as ‘absent’,” while those who could not properly fill the enumeration form were being classified as “Others” and put on the deletion list. People who shifted residence after 2002 were not given enumeration forms, the groups pointed out, arguing that this had resulted in “deep mass anxiety” and left people struggling to understand the process.

Source: The Hindu