BENGALURU: A delegation of anti-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls led by economist Parakala Prabhakar and former minister BT Lalita Naik held discussions with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, ministers Priyank Kharge, Santosh Lad, MLA B R Patil and others, on Friday.
They demanded that the government stop the exercise in Karnataka terming it as an undemocratic and unscientific process that pushes out voters.
The discussion was held at CM’s home office ‘Krishna’ and was also attended by retired IAS officer SG Devasahayam, and other prominent personalities such as Nikhil Dey, Mano Thangaraj, Thomas Franco of the voting rights movement, Tara Rao of Eddelu Karnataka, Noor Sridhar, activists N Venkatesh, Yusuf Kanni, Arun Louis, Badagalpura Nagendra, Vinay Srinivas, K V Bhat, K L Ashok, B Amjad, Mahantesh, Tahir Hussain, Sriram, Abdul Majeed, Amjad Pasha, Ambanna Aarolikar, and Manjunath.
“The Election Commission of India has lost all its credibility due to the way it introduced SIR since June 2025 and the way it has been implemented. It has completely failed to perform its duties as per Article 324 of the Constitution,” the delegation alleged. They also accused ECI of being a politically biased institution.
The activists explained that it has failed to protect the constitutional rights of the voters and citizens. The SIR process cannot continue in this form and it should be stopped immediately, they said. “The process undertaken so far should be thoroughly reviewed. The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on the constitutional validity of the SIR should be completed first,” they urged.
They have appealed that Karnataka should not only effectively record its resistance but also set a new model for the country.