Bengaluru, August 30: Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has requested the Election Commission to extend the timeline for verifying the voter list under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. He emphasized the need to ensure that no genuine voter is left out of the list.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh shared Shivakumar’s letter on social media platform X, expressing concerns about the potential removal of a significant number of voters’ names during the SIR process.
In a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on August 25, Shivakumar highlighted that many voters have been categorized under the ASDDO classification. According to the letter, approximately 1.08 crore out of Karnataka’s total 5.54 crore voters fall into this category.
He noted that following the publication of the draft voter list on August 24, around 43.8 lakh voters could receive verification notices due to logical discrepancies or lack of linkage to the 2002 voter list.
Specifically mentioning Bengaluru, Shivakumar stated that 46.88 lakh voters are categorized as ASDDO in the city. He warned that if claims are not filed in time, nearly 1.5 crore voters risk having their names removed from the list.
The Chief Minister pointed out that many individuals classified as “absent” might actually be genuine voters who could not submit their forms due to job, health, or other reasons. He also mentioned that voters who have changed their residence or polling station and were missed during the booth-level officers’ verification process may face challenges.
He stressed, “Changing residence should not be a reason to disenfranchise a person.”
Shivakumar presented four key demands to the Election Commission: extending the claim filing period, ensuring ward committee meetings in urban areas and gram sabha meetings in rural areas, providing voters with three to four weeks to respond, and deploying additional officials in districts with a high number of ASDDO cases.
The Chief Minister affirmed that the state government is ready to fully cooperate with the Election Commission in organizing gram sabha and ward committee meetings, awareness campaigns, and other necessary arrangements.
He concluded, “The goal should be to prepare a voter list that the people of Karnataka can trust. It must include every eligible citizen, remove ineligible names, and ensure that no citizen is deprived of their voting rights due to a lack of time, information, or opportunity.”
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