DK Shivakumar Accuses Election Commission of Being ‘Partner in Vote Theft’, Demands SIR Be Scrapped and Fresh Revision Held
Bengaluru: Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday accused the Election Commission of acting as a “partner in vote theft” with the BJP and demanded that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls be scrapped and a fresh revision undertaken.
Addressing a protest organised by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) at Freedom Park in Bengaluru demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Shivakumar alleged that poor voters and those critical of the establishment were being targeted during the electoral-roll revision.
“The Election Commission has become a puppet of the BJP. The names of poor voters and voters who criticise the administration are being targeted. They have joined the BJP as partners in vote theft,” Shivakumar alleged.
The allegations are political claims made by the Chief Minister. The Election Commission has maintained that the SIR is an electoral-roll revision exercise and that due process is available for eligible voters seeking inclusion. Karnataka’s draft electoral roll published in August contained about 4.46 crore electors against 5.54 crore electors on the frozen June 16 roll, with around 1.08 crore electors classified under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) category.
Shivakumar called for intervention by the President of India and demanded dissolution of the Election Commission. He also demanded the arrest of the Chief Election Commissioner and cancellation of elections that he alleged had been conducted irregularly.
“The Constitution gave autonomy and powers to the Election Commission of this country. Those powers have been misused,” Shivakumar alleged, claiming there was evidence to support the Opposition’s accusations.
He also targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying: “You are not the Chief Election Commissioner, you have become the Chief Selection Commissioner.”
Shivakumar warned that public anger would grow over what he described as injustice in the electoral process and demanded that the Union government convene a session of Parliament to discuss the controversy.
“The SIR that has been conducted now must be cancelled. A fresh revision must be carried out,” he said.
CM Cites Sharp Fall in Karnataka Draft Electorate
Shivakumar cited the scale of the change between Karnataka’s pre-SIR electoral roll and the draft roll to support his criticism.
He said Karnataka has a population of around seven crore and had 5.54 crore voters, while the SIR exercise had brought the draft electorate down to around 4.46 crore.
Official figures broadly confirm those two electoral-roll totals: Karnataka had 5,54,32,314 electors when the rolls were frozen on June 16, while the draft electoral roll published in August contained 4,46,80,151 electors. About 1.08 crore electors were placed in the ASDDO category during the exercise.
Shivakumar also referred to notices issued during the SIR process. The Karnataka CEO’s office said on September 25 that 43,82,296 notices had been generated, of which 41,63,368 had been delivered and 2,18,928 remained undelivered.
The Chief Minister said the Congress would await the outcome of the notice process but insisted that voting was a constitutional democratic right that must be protected.
“The right to vote is the right of every person. Voting is the biggest opportunity our Constitution has given through the democratic system. We will not allow this right to be lost,” he said.
Bengaluru Central, Mahadevapura Figures Raised at Protest
Shivakumar also raised questions over electoral-roll changes in Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency.
He said Congress candidate Mansoor Khan had lost the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha election by around 31,000 votes, according to the Election Commission’s result, and claimed that around 12 lakh votes had now reduced from the rolls in the constituency under the SIR exercise.
He asked BJP leaders to explain the change.
Shivakumar further alleged that around three lakh votes had “disappeared” in Mahadevapura and claimed that 12 lakh votes had been misused.
These constituency-level figures were assertions made by Shivakumar at the protest and are not independently established by the statewide SIR figures cited above.
He argued that controversies surrounding the electoral process were damaging public confidence in democratic institutions and said Congress was demanding transparency in the SIR and the wider election process.
‘Evidence of Revolt Against Modi’, Claims Shivakumar
Shivakumar also referred to reported disagreements within the Election Commission and portrayed them as evidence that members appointed during the Modi government’s tenure had objected to decisions of the Chief Election Commissioner.
He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appointed people he expected to act as “puppets”, but claimed some were now acting according to their conscience and opposing decisions attributed to Gyanesh Kumar.
This was Shivakumar’s political interpretation of developments within the Commission.
Congress to Take Anti-SIR Campaign to Villages
Shivakumar announced that Congress would expand its campaign against the SIR to the village level.
“We will take the anti-SIR struggle to every village,” he said.
He also said the state government intended to hold local body elections around November-December and reiterated a decision to use ballot papers for those polls.
The Chief Minister said Congress was fighting for what he described as a stronger and more credible electoral system.
He argued that India’s democratic institutions had historically been viewed internationally as a model but alleged that confidence in the system had been damaged under BJP rule.
Shivakumar said AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had launched their campaign against alleged “vote theft” from Karnataka and called upon Congress leaders, including booth-level agents, to organise the campaign further.
The Freedom Park protest came amid continuing political opposition to Karnataka’s SIR process. The draft roll is not the same as a final determination of every excluded elector’s eligibility: claims, objections, hearings and applications for inclusion form part of the revision process. More than six lakh applications for inclusion through Form 6 had been received by the time the claims-and-objections window closed, according to election officials.
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