Slogans opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) echoed across Freedom Park on Saturday as civil society groups protested against the exercise, set to roll out in Karnataka starting June 20. The protest, groups said, was also against the remarks of the Supreme Court, which upheld the exercise and described it as “an advancement towards free and fair elections.”

Calling the exercise a “targeted and planned” attempt at disenfranchisement, the protesters argued that the ECI guidelines allow the Commission to revise procedures as it deems fit and accused the apex court of giving the Election Commission of India (ECI) a “blank cheque” to do whatever it wants in the name of SIR. 

‘Not in rules’

The groups objected to the category of “logical discrepancies”, which emerged during the SIR exercise in West Bengal and allegedly led to mass disenfranchisement. “There is no such category in the rules. There is nothing called micro-observers either. These were created later,” said activist Vinay Sreenivas, arguing that the Supreme Court had gone a step further by defending that the scale of deletions was not as large as critics claimed.

Pointing out that the same judgment mentions the number of people deleted in Bihar and then says it has not seen that many deletions, Mr. Sreenivas argued, “If judges cannot see what is happening on the ground, petitioners, activists and senior advocates have placed the evidence before them. Yet they refuse to see it,” he said.

Mohammed Yusuf Kanni, representing Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Karnataka, questioned how voter numbers could decline significantly when compared with Census data if the exercise had been conducted properly.

The groups further alleged that even during Phase I, names of people marked under -- “Absent, Shifted, Deleted or Duplicate” (ASSD) category, had been removed in some cases without the individuals themselves being aware of it, with ECI making no attempts to create awareness.  

“After all this, the Supreme Court and the ECI still call the exercise inclusive,” K.V. Bhat, Convenor, Joint Confederation of Trade Unions, said, accusing the institutions meant to deliver “justice” of acting in a manner that enables “injustice” and alleged that both the ECI and the judiciary were failing to protect vulnerable communities likely to be affected by the exercise. 

Govt. should take stand

The protesters urged the State government, which recently discussed the SIR in a Cabinet meeting, to clearly state its position and come up with safeguards to ensure that the exercise does not result in mass disenfranchisement, particularly among Dalits, Adivasis, women and Muslims. 

“Whether it is Siddaramaiah or D.K. Shivakumar, the government needs to take a stand. It is the people who gave them power. Before the exercise begins, the Chief Electoral Officer and the government must hold a meeting with civil society representatives and make it clear how the exercise will be carried out in Karnataka,” the groups demanded.