DK Shivakumar seeks fresh voter roll revision, asks Chief Election Commissioner to resign

Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar demanded a fresh voter roll revision and asked Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign. He said reported dissent within the Election Commission had put voters' rights and democratic credibility in question.

In Short

• Karnataka CM demands fresh Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls
• Calls for CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over reported dissent
• Shivakumar alleges over one crore names deleted from Karnataka voter list

Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday sought a fresh Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and asked Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign, citing reported differences within the Election Commission over its decision-making process.

Speaking to reporters, Shivakumar referred to a media report which said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months. He said the reported differences raised serious questions about the country’s democratic system.

“Today, in the democratic system, two out of the three members have expressed their disagreement. The right to vote, which is meant to protect every individual and their livelihood, has today been compromised,” he charged.

Shivakumar said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had raised the issue of alleged “Vote Chori” from Bengaluru, and said the right to vote belonged to every citizen. He alleged that more than one crore names had been deleted from Karnataka’s electoral rolls for various reasons.

He said he had sought more time for the exercise and that the state’s voter list should be finalised before any further action. “Let our voter list be finalised. After that, whatever way we have to raise our voice and fight on this issue, I will certainly continue to do so,” he said.

Questioning the manner in which the SIR was being carried out, Shivakumar demanded that the process be scrapped and conducted afresh. “We want a new SIR to be conducted. We want everyone to have their rights,” he said, adding that the issue should be debated at length, including in Parliament.

Referring to the reported dissent within the Election Commission, Shivakumar said, “When the (dissenting) voices are not accepted and the majority decision has not been upheld, he (CEC) can’t take decisions.”

He called on Kumar to “immediately step down”. He added that the issue was not about votes belonging to any one party. “We are not talking about Congress votes, BJP votes or somebody else’s votes. It is the right to vote for everyone, and it is the right to live,” he said.

Reacting to the reported differences, the Election Commission said differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberations in any institution and that all its orders “are an outcome of the unanimous decisions of the full Commission in the past one year”.

Shivakumar demanded a fresh voter roll revision, questioned the ongoing process and linked his criticism to the reported differences within the poll panel.

- Ends