KPCC president B. K. Hariprasad addresses the media. Photo: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).
Bengaluru: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president B. K. Hariprasad has called a protest at Freedom Park on Saturday, September 26, demanding the resignation and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Addressing a media conference, Hariprasad invited other political parties that support democratic principles to join the protest. He said a second phase of demonstrations would be held across Karnataka’s districts and sought an independent review of the revision exercise.
The Election Commission has disputed the broader allegation of unilateral decision-making. In its September 23 response, the Commission said its decisions, including electoral-roll revision, were unanimous and that differing views during deliberations were part of the decision-making process.
Hariprasad cites reports of internal objections
Referring to media reports published on September 23, Hariprasad alleged that Kumar had disregarded objections from Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on 14 occasions over 10 months. He alleged that decisions relating to SIR and changes to Form 6 had been taken despite their objections.
Hariprasad said Rahul Gandhi had raised concerns in a February 2025 letter to the Commission. He accused the poll body of acting for the benefit of one political party and one leader, and argued that Kumar had lost the moral authority to remain in office.
In a sharp political attack, he also accused the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and the Commission of acting against democratic and constitutional principles. These are Hariprasad’s allegations, not established findings.
Claims over deleted voter names
Hariprasad claimed that 63 lakh voter names had been removed in Bihar, 91 lakh in West Bengal and 1.07 crore in Karnataka. The figures cited at the briefing have not been independently verified by this publication.
He said he had released a letter in Belagavi on Thursday which, he alleged, showed BJP MLA Abhay Patil seeking the deletion of 2,500 voters. Hariprasad further claimed he possessed applications concerning 65,000 deleted voter entries and alleged that the applications did not bear signatures.
He alleged that minorities and Dalits were disproportionately affected and referred to Bableshwar and Hubballi-Dharwad while describing attempts to remove names. He argued that the problem lay in the SIR process rather than simply in errors in voter lists.
Commission says procedures were followed
In its September 23 response to the wider controversy, the Commission said differences of opinion could arise before a final decision. It maintained that its official decisions followed statutory procedures and that its digital systems had safeguards against unauthorised changes.
That statement addresses the wider dispute about the Commission’s functioning; it is not a specific response to Hariprasad’s claims about Karnataka, the alleged letter or the applications. Responses from the Commission and Abhay Patil to those specific claims were not available in the material reviewed for this report.
Hariprasad also questioned why BJP leaders were defending the Commission when Congress had addressed its questions to the poll body. He said the Commission itself should answer those questions.
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