SIR: Civil society groups to hold ‘People’s Tribunal’ to highlight voter deletions

Civil society groups from across Karnataka will hold a ‘People’s Tribunal’ in Bengaluru on October 8 to protest the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and deletions of names under the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead and Others (ASDDO) categories. 

Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, spokesperson Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, actor Prakash Raj and representatives of other groups are expected to participate in the protest. 

The groups will demand that all deletions made during the SIR be scrapped and that the pre-SIR electoral rolls be retained. They will also seek the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, amid alleged electoral irregularities.  

The groups said that the SIR process has deprived lakhs of people, particularly those from oppressed and minority communities, of their right to vote. They said the tribunal would publicly present evidence on the background of the SIR process and injustices arising from it, including cases of voters facing difficulties over documentation during hearings of notices.