Bengaluru
oi-Madhuri Adnal
After Congress drew a blank in MLC election that went to polls on October 23, Karnataka Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi has defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, saying the exercise was carried out properly after the Congress raised objections and trained its workers to monitor the process. His remarks come amid the party’s campaign against alleged voter list irregularities in other states.
It must be noted that the Election Commission’s final electoral rolls show that Karnataka’s electorate has fallen from 5.54 crore to around 4.55 crore following the revision, a net reduction of 99.32 lakh voters.
Karnataka Minister Satish Jarkiholi defended the state’s revised electoral rolls, which reduced the electorate by 99.32 lakh voters, arguing the process was correctly executed due to Congress’s oversight, differentiating it from alleged issues in other states after the party’s MLC election defeat.
However, Jarkiholi said that the deleted entries were of people who had died, shifted or were registered more than once. He also said that the Congress was not opposed to the revision exercise itself but had concerns about how it was conducted in states such as West Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar.
“The SIR in Karnataka was done right because of our protests and training. Our argument is that SIR should have happened in the same manner in other states,” he said.
His statement sets out the distinction he sees between Karnataka and other states where the Congress has questioned the Election Commission’s approach to revising voter lists.
Jarkiholi has defended the deletions, saying they involved duplicate entries, people who had shifted residence and voters who had died. Such changes are part of the process of updating electoral rolls, but the large reduction has also raised questions about how the deleted names were verified.
The overall decline does not, by itself, establish how many voters were removed under each category or whether any eligible electors were mistakenly excluded. That distinction is important in assessing the impact of the revision.
For voters whose names are missing from the final list, the key concern is whether they can establish their eligibility and have their details corrected in time to exercise their franchise.
The Congress has been campaigning against what it calls ‘vote chori’, alleging irregularities in electoral rolls and questioning the Election Commission’s handling of revision exercises in several states.
Jarkiholi’s remarks suggest that his objection is not to the SIR as a process, but to the way it has been implemented elsewhere. He credited the Congress’s protests and training with helping ensure that the exercise was conducted properly in Karnataka.
The SIR controversy comes days after the Congress suffered a setback in the Karnataka Legislative Council elections, with the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance partner JD(S) winning all four seats that went to polls on October 23.
The BJP won the North-East Teachers’, South-East Graduates’ and West Graduates’ constituencies, while the JD(S) wrested the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency from the ruling Congress.
The elections were conducted using ballot papers, in keeping with the established practice for these constituencies.
The results have added to the political pressure on the Congress in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra drew attention when they sat beside each other and spoke at a Basava Jayanti programme in K R Nagar in Mysuru district on Wednesday.
The event was held at the Municipal Open Air Stadium in the presence of Suttur Sri Shivaratri Deshikendra Swamiji. Rural Development Minister Eshwar Khandre, former minister S R Mahesh and local MLA D Ravi Shankar were among those present.
Vijayendra and Siddaramaiah were seen exchanging words during the programme. Vijayendra also shook hands with the Chief Minister and patted him on the back, drawing attention at the event.
The interaction came after the NDA’s victory in all four Legislative Council constituencies. While the exchange was a separate development, it added to the political conversations surrounding the recent election results.
