BENGALURU: A representation was submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner, alleging serious shortcomings in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka, and seeking urgent intervention to prevent the exclusion of eligible voters.
In a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI), MLC Ramesh Babu alleged that the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, had failed to establish an adequate number of voter facilitation centres to assist citizens in obtaining, filling and submitting enumeration forms.
He claimed that although the SIR process began with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conducting house-to-house visits from June 30, with the exercise scheduled to conclude on July 29, he had information that nearly half the eligible households had yet to receive enumeration forms.
Babu said the delay has also affected the collection of completed forms, raising concerns that genuine voters could be left out of the electoral rolls due to administrative lapses.
The petitioner contended that citizens should not lose their voting rights because of failures in the revision process, and urged the Election Commission to intervene.
Among his key demands are the immediate establishment of facilitation centres in every polling station area, deployment of trained officials to assist voters, continuation of door-to-door distribution of enumeration forms until every eligible household is covered, and an extension of deadline for submitting forms.
The petition also sought directions that no elector should be deleted from the electoral rolls solely because an enumeration form could not be submitted due to non-receipt of the form or inadequate facilitation.
It called for a state-level monitoring mechanism, district grievance redressal centres and helplines, daily publication of district-wise data on form distribution and collection, and special assistance for senior citizens, persons with disabilities and rural voters.
Ramesh Babu also disputed claims by the Chief Electoral Officer that 37,464 voter facilitation centres and 11,856 BLO facilitation centres were functioning across Karnataka, alleging that the figures do not reflect the situation on the ground.
