K’taka BJP files complaint against State Election Commission over ‘parallel’ voter revision exercise
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday submitted a complaint to State Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar, seeking urgent intervention against what it termed a parallel, unauthorised, and conflicting Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process allegedly initiated by the Karnataka State Election Commission (SEC).
The BJP delegation comprised Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, BJP State Spokesperson Prakash Shesharaghavachar, State Convenor of the BJP Legal Cell Vasanth Kumar, Bengaluru North District President S. Harish and Bengaluru Central District President Saptagiri Gowda. The delegation visited the office of the Election Commission of India (ECI) near K.R. Circle in Bengaluru and submitted the complaint.
Speaking to reporters after submitting the complaint, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said the Election Commission of India had already undertaken the Special Intensive Revision process to identify and remove duplicate voter entries.
“The Election Commission of India is already conducting the SIR exercise. If a person has multiple entries in the electoral rolls, those entries will be identified and removed. It does not matter whether the voter belongs to the BJP, Congress or any other party. Every individual is entitled to only one valid entry in the electoral roll,” he said.
Referring to allegations that the ongoing revision exercise could lead to the deletion or addition of voters based on vested interests, Narayanaswamy said such concerns should be addressed within the framework of the Election Commission of India.
“The question we are raising is this: when the ECI has already issued guidelines and is conducting the SIR exercise, how can the State Election Commission undertake a similar exercise in 27 wards of Bengaluru? Who authorised it? Carrying out such an exercise without the consent of the Election Commission of India is completely wrong,” he alleged.
Narayanaswamy further accused the Congress government in Karnataka of influencing the State Election Commission.
“This is being done at the instance of the Congress government. The State Election Commission cannot function above the Election Commission of India. Unfortunately, the SEC appears to have become a puppet in the hands of the state government. This is unacceptable,” he alleged.
Demanding that the exercise be withdrawn immediately, he said the voter revision process should be conducted only under the supervision of the Election Commission of India.
“The SIR exercise should be carried out under the monitoring of the ECI. There is no need to create panic among voters. All political parties will be treated equally in the revision process. The Congress government is unnecessarily creating fear and confusion among the people,” he claimed.
Narayanaswamy warned that legal action could be initiated if the exercise continued.
“We have already submitted a complaint to Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar. We are also forwarding the complaint to the Election Commission of India for appropriate action. If this continues, legal action will be taken against both the state government and the State Election Commission. We will await the ECI’s response and decide our future course of action accordingly,” he said.