BENGALURU: The Karnataka HC adjourned the hearing to Tuesday the public interest litigation filed by writer Devanuru Mahadeva, historian Ramachandra Guha, Major General S G Vombatkere (retd), former vice-chancellor Sabhiha Bhoomigowda, seeking directions to the ECI to extend the timeline presently notified for each phase of the SIR in Karnataka, as revised by the order dated July 15, from one to three months.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K S Hemalekha adjourned after hearing as the counsel for the petitioners sought time to produce the details of the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court for SIR.
The petitioners have also sought directions to the Chief Secretary of the State Government not to withdraw any social welfare schemes from persons who are not included in the voter rolls post SIR.
They further requested the court to issue directions to the ECI and the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka to establish and operationalise functional voter facilitation centres at every polling booth in the State.
This apart, the petitioners prayed the court to issue directions to the ECI to clarify what falls within the 'other' sub-category of the absentee/shifted/dead/duplicate classification, and to direct that no elector's name be excluded from the draft electoral roll under that sub-category without disclosed and specific reasons recorded and communicated to the elector.
They also requested the court to issue direction to the ECI to publish, in clear and accessible written form, the complete set of criteria that will result in an electors name being flagged as a logical discrepancy, and to further direct that no such thing be applied to any electors name without prior notice to the elector and a reasonable opportunity to respond, in accordance with the principles of natural justice, before the name is excluded from the draft electoral roll.
The petitioners further stated that a direction be issued to the ECI to consider specific concerns raised in the letter of the Government of Karnataka dated June 15 and to issue written guidelines in relation to the conduct of the SIR in the state addressing the same in a time-bound manner.