TUMAKURU: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday said that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being done as per the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the state government has no direct role in it. “Election officials are handling everything. If officials commit mistakes, action should be taken against them,” he told reporters here after participating in a workshop for gram panchayat officials.
The state government has not issued any directive with regard to SIR. “We have only provided the manpower sought by the ECI. BLOs visit houses to distribute enumeration forms and collect them later. If they distribute forms sitting in one place, then it is wrong. If such incidents are found, the ECI should take action against them. BJP should study the process conducted in other states,” he said.
Dr Parameshwara said rules related to SIR were not formulated in consultation with the state government. The ECI has decided to complete the SIR exercise within a month. It has issued instructions to officials in this regard. The state government is only extending support to conduct SIR.
On elections to ZPs and TPs, Dr Parameshwara said Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has already announced that elections to such bodies will be held soon. Poll dates will be finalised in the coming days.
On Tumakuru farmers’ protest against the Hemavathi Express Canal project, he backed the CM’s decision and said it cannot be scrapped now. He said Rs 900 crore has been earmarked for the project and part of it has already been spent. At this stage, it is not possible to stop the project.
He said over 1.44 crore pages of land records of the revenue department have been digitised and stored securely in e-khajane. This was possible because of the efforts of the then CM SM Krishna to computerize land records.
On Gruha Lakshmi scheme, he said the World Bank has appreciated it. Opposition leaders criticised State Government for launching the scheme. But similar schemes have been implemented in other states, he said.
HC notice to state, SEC, ECI on plea against state's separate SIR
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the State Government, the State Election Commission (SEC) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition challenging the separate SIR in certain wards of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) being conducted by the SEC.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj ordered them to submit their statement of objections by July 15 while issuing notice, after hearing the petition filed by Vivek M, Srinath M, T Manjunatha, Satish T R and Anand Murthy K R, electors of Mahadevapura assembly constituency in the city, contending that the SEC has no authority to conduct such a parallel exercise by way of impugned order dated June 19. It was stated in the petition that the ECI launched a nationwide SIR of electoral rolls, with Karnataka in Phase III.
The ECI froze Karnataka’s Assembly constituency rolls on June 16, with a structured schedule running till final publication on October 7.
