Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar (File photo | EPS)
BENGALURU: Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has written to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar seeking more time and strict adherence to procedures during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state amid concerns over a large number of voters facing possible exclusion.
Shivakumar said nearly 1.08 crore of the state’s 5.54 crore electors have been placed under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) category, while about 43.8 lakh voters are expected to receive notices over “logical discrepancies” or absence of a link to the 2002 electoral roll. He said around 1.5 crore voters could face deletion unless they submit claims for continuation or fresh inclusion.
The CM urged the ECI to extend the period for filing claims and objections, ensure ward committee meetings in urban areas and gram sabhas in rural areas to identify errors in the draft rolls.
He also urged the EC to provide at least three to four weeks for electors facing verification to submit documents. He sought appointment of additional electoral registration officers and district election officers to handle the expected workload. “The unrealistic deadlines and inadequate manpower could result in errors and unfair exclusions,” he said.
“The proposed period of roughly 45 days for issuing notices and disposing of cases concerning ‘logical discrepancies’ and the absence of a link to the 2002 roll is highly compressed.
Giving an elector about a week to respond, followed by a second notice, may place an unreasonable burden on working people, migrants and the elderly, particularly where documents must be obtained or travel is required. A minimum of 3-4 weeks should therefore be provided to each elector to respond and furnish the necessary documents, ensuring a meaningful opportunity to establish eligibility before any adverse decision is taken,’’ he said.
CM stated that a significant number of those categorised as Absent may be genuine electors who could not submit their enumeration forms because they were away from home for work, health or other legitimate reasons during BLOs visit. He said the State Government is ready to provide all administrative and logistical support to the EC to ensure that every eligible voter is included in the electoral rolls.
CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS TO TAKE OUT MARCH AGAINST ECI
Members of various civil society organisations announced that they will conduct a Vidhana Soudha Chalo on September 1, condemning the method in which the SIR exercise has been conducted in Karnataka. Speaking to media in Bengaluru, they demanded the resignation of Election Commission of India Gyanesh Kumar, for what they called designed a flawed and malicious process.
This has come a day after the Office of the CEO, Karnataka, released the draft electoral rolls on August 24 which included 4,46,80,151 electors against the earlier of 5,54,32,314 electors. They raised suspicion over the 43lakh electors identified for serving notices listed under the anomaly/ logical discrep-ancy or no-mapping category. They also sought for an extension of the claims and objections period for people to be included in the rolls.
For More News Updates Follow Us On www.tconews.in
