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in West Bengal, the SIR process continues to drag on nine months after it was launched, before the Assembly elections in the state. (Representational image/File)
As the October 15 deadline for the disposal of claims and objections in the Karnataka Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process draws near, sources said almost a quarter of those who received notices are unlikely to make it to the final electoral roll.
Amid complaints of large-scale applications to delete voters from the list reported from at least four constituencies, the unease is being felt within the NDA camp as well. Leaders of the JD(S), a BJP ally, speak in private of the “West Bengal model” of voter deletions being tried in Karnataka.
In West Bengal, the SIR process continues to drag on nine months after it was launched, before the Assembly elections in the state. Lakhs of appeals for inclusion in or deletion from electoral rolls in the state are pending before Supreme Court-appointed tribunals.
However, while this has been welcomed by all, officials in Karnataka point out that with the orders yet to reach them, there is confusion about implementation.
Before the SIR process began, Karnataka had 5.54 crore voters. Of them, around 1 crore were removed from the electoral roll during the enumeration phase, as they were classified under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Deleted and Others category. Of the roughly 4.4 crore voters who made it to the draft roll, 43.81 lakh were served notices. If 20-25% or 9-11 lakh voters don’t make it back, as officials suspect, the total electorate in Karnataka would shrink from 5.54 crore to around 4.35 crore.
“These are the current estimates. The final electorate number could rise due to the fresh directions issued by the ECI,” a source told The Indian Express.
Even if that happens, a JD(S) leader said, it made little sense how the entire SIR burden was put on the common man. “The BLOs could have been put on verification duty earlier itself, like the enumeration phase. Instead, people have been made to queue up with their documents.”
The leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, added that the JD(S) had raised the issue at meetings chaired by the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer. “The CEO told us that they had sent a proposal in this regard.”
Following the new ECI notification regarding verification by BLOs, there is also confusion about what the role of the Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) – tasked so far with checking the documents – would be.
In most constituencies, AEROs were appointed based on the number of notices issued. In the Kapu segment of Udupi district for instance, after around 20,000 notices were sent, an additional 18 AEROs were deputed from various departments to conduct hearings.
“They have been doing SIR duty for the past 30 days. Now, the ECI says that BLOs can conduct hearings. Who should be held responsible for the work held up in various departments, as these 18 B-group officers have not been able to focus on department files due to SIR duties?” a source said.
In the final few days of the claims and objections phase, starting August 24, the ECI has also been facing questions over mass filing of Form 7s to remove names from electoral rolls. The four constituencies where these allegations have surfaced – Bhalki, Bableshwar, Mudigere and Belgaum Uttar – involving 6,259 voters, are all represented by Congress legislators.
At Mudigere, election officials approached police over unknown persons “misusing” details of a Booth Level Agent (who is a party representative) to submit Form 7 applications.
Sources in the CEO’s office said that warnings have been issued that those submitting Form 7 applications without evidence could face legal action, to curb the practice.
Claiming several such attempts to bulk delete names, Congress Karnataka president B K Hariprasad said one person in Vijayapura district had taken 18,000 Form 7s. “Officials warned him that any anomalies caused by the Form-7s would lead to penal action,” he said. The complaints were later withdrawn, he said, adding that alert officials had checked similar “fraud” elsewhere too.
Senior BJP legislator Sunil Kumar said it was wrong to call this a fraud. “Verification has to be done by the ECI ultimately. Forms for inclusion and deletion can be submitted by anyone,” he said.
Asked about misgivings expressed by JD(S) leaders, senior party leader K A Thippeswamy said the ECI’s changed norms would help voters. “The provision allowing BLOs to hear cases is welcome. We should wait and see,” he said.
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