BENGALURU: Apprehensive about mass exclusion of names from the voters’ list, political leaders and civil society organisations have decided to oppose the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Karnataka through a statewide campaign, ‘My Vote, My Right’. This is similar to the way they opposed implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). They have also decided to approach Congress leaders in the state, urging them to pass a unanimous resolution against SIR.
This decision was taken at a Round Table meeting organised here on Friday. Opposing the SIR and what happened in Bihar, Clifton D’Rozario, state secretary of the CPI(ML) Liberation, said, “The mass exclusion of voters’ names in Bihar has resulted in the deletion of 68 lakh voters from the electoral rolls.
This mainly includes women, Dalits, Muslims, especially migrant workers. In Bihar, the ECI refused to accept that most of the poor, illiterate, women, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes do not possess documents, including birth certificates, passports, matriculation certificates or caste certificates.”
He added, “We fear that the same will repeat in Karnataka if the government allows SIR. There is no provision in the Constitution for ECI to determine the citizenship of citizens. In simple words, BJP is implementing NRC and CAA through SIR.”
Vinay Sreenivasa, a member of Bahutva Karnataka, explained, “Clause 5(b) of the booklet on SIR of Electoral Rolls in Karnataka 2025, issued by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, states that the ERO will refer cases of suspected foreign nationals to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
For these purposes, the AERO shall exercise ERO’s powers independently u/s 130(2) of the RPA, 1950. With such unbridled powers, and constant false claims of marginalised communities being foreign nationals, the SIR could become a mass exercise that affects not just voting rights but also citizenship of migrant workers, Adivasis, Dalits and Muslims.”
Besides organising a statewide campaign, the organisations have also arrived at a resolution to urge ECI to share the voters’ list with the public in a digital machine-readable format.
Kathyayini Chamraj, Executive Trustee at CIVIC, also advised amendments to Rule 12, making Form 6 applicable only for ‘new voters’ or ‘first-time voters’. She said. “This rule only appears to have the questionable intent of saying: Once your name is deleted, it shall remain deleted forever, unless one is prepared to make a false declaration in Form 6 and make oneself liable for prosecution!”
