BENGALURU: Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday said the state cabinet’s objections to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was communicated to the Election Commission of India (ECI) last week, and they are yet to receive any response.
Speaking to mediapersons here, the minister said they have asked the ECI several questions, including the definition of logical discrepancies, how they are evaluated, the tribunal and how people’s grievances will be addressed. However, they have not got any response from the ECI.
“We have also communicated the same to the Karnataka CEO (Chief Electoral Officer). I don’t think they are interested in answering any of the questions. We will see how to take this up legally. Today or tomorrow, we will evaluate all the options available to us legally,” he said.
The minister said they are not against SIR, but there were certain mistakes in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The idea of SIR is to ensure that more people are in the voter list, but the exercise seems more exclusive than inclusive, he said and added that in the name of logical discrepancies, crores of people were left out in four-five states.
He asked the ECI not to repeat the same mistakes in Karnataka. The minister said they have written to the ECI and hope that they will give some clarity before the process starts in Karnataka.
