Prakash Raj to join September 1 civil campaign to flag flaws in SIR

Actor Prakash Raj on Tuesday said that civil society organisations in Bengaluru will hold an “Election Commission Chalo” campaign on September 1 to flag alleged flaws in the conduct of the SIR

Actor Prakash Raj on Tuesday said that civil society organisations in Bengaluru will hold an “Election Commission Chalo” campaign on September 1 to flag alleged flaws in the conduct of the SIR.

Prakash Raj

He added that the groups, including Eddelu Karnataka, Muslim Muttahida Mahaz, Namma Mata Namma Hakku Vedike, and Active Bengaluru. would also move the courts to seek a halt to the exercise.

Earlier, Raj had uploaded a clip claiming he was marked under ASDDO. However, civic officials said that he was listed as a voter in Shanthinagar assembly constituency of June 16, when electoral roll data was frozen

Advocate and activist Vinay Sreenivasa said the high numbers under Absent, Dead, Duplicate, Shifted and Others (ADDSO) category indicate that the exercise was not conducted properly. “In Bengaluru, some cases listed under the ADDSO category may be genuine. However, the booth level officers under extreme work pressure in several other cases have listed genuine voters, who had shifted residence under ADDSO. Instead of asking them to submit form-8 (residence shift), their names have been completely deleted and they have instead been asked to fill form -6( new voter),’’ he claimed.

Jagruta Karnataka spokesperson Adam Khan said his organisation had met the Karnataka chief electoral officer on Monday after the draft rolls were published and urged him to give at least six weeks time for filing claims and objections under ADDSO.

State BJP spokesperson S Prakash said the removal of names was for genuine reasons as the booth level officers did their best to distribute the forms to all. There are several cases where voters have taken the forms and not returned. “Can the Election Commission be blamed for this?’’ he asked.