A total of 86 lakh voters across Karnataka including 3.48 lakh in Mysuru, who have not been mapped in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, could well be “deleted”, warned Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson M. Lakshmana.

Addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Tuesday, Mr. Lakshmana said the total number of electors, who had not been mapped in the SIR, accounted for 15 per cent of the 5.5 crore voters in the State.

“Even though the Election Commission of India claims that the inclusion of the electors, who had not been mapped, is still possible, the documents and proof sought for the same is impossible for the electors to provide,” he said.

In Mysuru district, which has about 27.99 lakh voters spread across 11 Assembly constituencies, Mr. Lakshmana said a total of 3.48 lakh voters had not been mapped. “They include about 59,700 voters in Narasimharaja Assembly constituency, which had a total electorate of 3.2 lakh,” he said.

Claiming that his study of the unmapped electors in Narasimharaja assembly constituency represented by Congress party’s Tanvir Sait revealed that as many as 43,000 of the unmapped voters belonged to the Muslim community, while Christians and Hindus accounted for the remaining 17,000.

He accused the BJP of “stealing” votes through the Election Commission of India. The BJP is preparing the ground for the next Assembly elections in 2028 by indulging in large-scale “vote theft”, he alleged.

With regard to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to minimise use of fuel, fertilizers, cooking oil, foreign travel and put off purchase of gold for a year, Mr. Lakshmana said the Prime Minister’s words indicate that there is an “economic emergency” in the country.

Mr. Modi’s appeal has already impacted businesses across the country, while affecting the livelihood of a crores of people. 

The BJP government at the Centre has totally failed in its foreign policy, which has brought such a misfortune for the country, he said and traced the root cause of problems faced by India to Mr Modi’s meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just before the war broke out between U.S.-Israel and Iran.