Prakash Raj slams 'flawed' Karnataka SIR process, calls for 'EC chalo' march on Sept 1

Actor and activist Prakash Raj, who figures in Karnataka’s SIR ASDDO list as permanently shifted after the publication of the draft electoral rolls, on Tuesday said the “flawed” Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process was creating disinterest among citizens in participating in the democratic electoral system.

Speaking to reporters a day after the draft rolls were published, Prakash Raj said Karnataka’s civil society would fight what he described as a “criminal act” that could snatch away the voting rights of lakhs of people.

As part of the campaign, Prakash Raj and representatives of many civil society activists released a symbolic FIR against the SIR process, listing what they described as serious flaws in the exercise.

The draft rolls have excluded 1.08 crore voters from the previous electoral roll under the ASDDO (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others) categories. Among the 4.46 crore voters included in the draft roll, 43.81 lakh have been flagged for no mapping and logical discrepancies and will receive notices.

The civil society groups said they had raised objections to the process from the beginning, organised awareness campaigns and help desks, supported BLOs and trained booth-level agents to assist voters. They also repeatedly urged the Election Commission and the state government to address the problems they had identified.

“We will not be tired in this fight. There will be an Election Commission Chalo rally on September 1, where many of the people affected by the SIR process will participate,” Prakash Raj said, indicating that civil society groups would also take the legal route to challenge the process.

The groups alleged that the enumeration exercise was conducted in an “unscientific and undemocratic” manner, with inadequate publicity and training for Booth Level Officers (BLOs). They also questioned the lack of clarity over the enumeration forms and the manner in which logical discrepancies were identified.

Questioning the treatment of voters categorised as 'Absent', 'Shifted' and ‘Others’, Prakash Raj said there was no fundamental objection to the deletion of dead and duplicate voters, but raised serious concerns over the other three categories.

He alleged that the process had been carried out in a hurry, with inadequately trained BLOs, resulting in genuine voters being placed in the ASDDO list. People who had temporarily gone out for work or shifted residence for employment had been wrongly classified in the ASDDO list, he said.

“Why should a person whose name has appeared in the ASDDO list for various reasons have to submit Form 6, which is meant for new voters?” he questioned. He also asked why both an 18-year-old first-time voter and an 80-year-old existing voter should be required to go through a process akin to registering afresh because of problems arising from the SIR exercise.

The civil society groups objected to shifted voters being treated as deleted voters, arguing that those who had moved should have been allowed to transfer their votes through Form 8 rather than lose their names from the electoral rolls.

Prakash Raj also alleged that several BLOs deployed in Bengaluru were from outside the city and lacked familiarity with the areas and voters they were assigned to verify.

The groups questioned the requirement for voters to establish a link with the 2002 electoral roll, saying the roll was not readily available to the public in many places. They also questioned the use of software to identify logical discrepancies, alleging that BLOs were not adequately trained or given written instructions on how to handle them. They also added that the process had resulted in lakhs of genuine voters being placed under suspicion and questioned the basis for issuing notices to 43.81 lakh voters flagged for no mapping and logical discrepancies.

Prakash Raj urged elected representatives across party lines to support the civil society campaign, saying they represented voters whose voting rights were at risk. “Those elected representatives are representatives of the very voters whose voting rights are in danger. They should support this fight,” he said.

The civil society groups said they will challenge the draft electoral roll and the process used to prepare it, calling it flawed and undemocratic. They also demanded the resignation of the Election Commission of India, particularly Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the Commission had designed a flawed and “malicious” process.

They further demanded a change in the method of appointing Election Commissioners, seeking a return to the earlier system in which the selection committee included representatives of the ruling party and the Opposition and a sitting Supreme Court judge.

The groups announced the Election Commission Chalo march on September 1, with affected voters expected to participate. They also said they would approach the courts seeking a halt to the SIR process as the next step in the fight against the SIR.