Now Reading: Karnataka groups plan EC Chalo protest on Sept 1 over voter rolls
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Karnataka groups plan EC Chalo protest on Sept 1 over voter rolls
Civil society organisations in Karnataka, led by actor Prakash Raj, announced an 'Election Commission Chalo' campaign on September 1 in Bengaluru to protest the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. They…
Civil society organisations in Karnataka, led by actor Prakash Raj, announced an 'Election Commission Chalo' campaign on September 1 in Bengaluru to protest the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. They allege that lakhs of eligible voters were excluded from the draft rolls, calling the process 'flawed' and 'unscientific.'
The groups plan to approach the courts to halt the revision. They claim that of the 5.54 crore electors on the 2025 roll, 1.08 crore have been placed in the ASDDO categories (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, Others), and 43.8 lakh remaining voters have been marked 'suspicious' and may receive citizenship proof notices.
Prakash Raj criticised the scale and timeline, noting that the next assembly election is two years away and the exercise involving over five crore voters should not be completed in one month. The organisations clarified their protest is directed at the Election Commission of India, not at state election officials or booth-level workers.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The SIR process aims to clean electoral rolls before the 2028 Karnataka assembly elections, but the scale of deletions, nearly 20% of electors flagged as ASDDO, has alarmed civil society. Under the Election Commission's framework, voters marked 'absent' or 'shifted' can be restored only by filing Form 6, placing the burden on individuals. The state election office has not yet released a district-wise break-up of deletions under each ASDDO sub-category, which the groups say makes verification impossible. The High Court may hear a petition in early September, and the EC's response to the protest will signal whether it revises the timeline or methodology.
Source: thefederal.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
