Bengaluru, July 1 (IANS). Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday urged the officials involved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists to act impartially and not succumb to any political pressure during the voter verification process.
Bommai said that the authorities should not succumb to any kind of political pressure and should ensure that no ineligible person’s name appears in the voter list and no eligible voter is excluded.
In a statement, Bommai said the SIR process began on Tuesday with the distribution of enumeration forms across the state. He mentioned that reports are being circulated alleging that during the voter list revision, some officials were instructed to act under pressure from the Karnataka government and the Congress party.
Bommai further said that such reports have raised concerns and he stressed that the fairness of the electoral process must be protected.
He appealed to all the District Election Officers, Deputy Commissioners, Election Officers, Panchayat Development Officers (PDO) and Revenue Department officials engaged in voter list revision work to perform their duties in a completely impartial manner.
He also called upon the Election Commission to issue strict instructions to vigilance teams formed in each district to closely monitor the revision process and ensure that the voter list is prepared in a fair and transparent manner.
Bommai also urged the Election Commission to issue a clear public direction reiterating that all officers involved in the voter list revision work should work independently and without any political interference.
The BJP leader said maintaining the credibility of the voter list revision process is essential to protect the democratic rights of voters and ensure free and fair elections.
It is noteworthy that Karnataka BJP on Tuesday accused the Congress-led state government of obstructing the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list.
Meanwhile, according to the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office, more than 12.48 lakh enumeration forms were distributed to voters across Karnataka on Tuesday, the first day of the SIR exercise, covering 2.25 per cent of the state’s 5.54 crore registered voters.
On the first day, 291 dead and 116 transferred voters were identified.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer’s daily press release, officials have also identified 116 voters who have permanently changed their place of residence, 291 deceased voters, and 77 persons who were already registered elsewhere. Two cases have been placed in other category.
Along with field work, digitization of completed census forms also started. 47,817 forms were digitized on the first day, which is 0.09 percent of the total voters. Additionally, 6,840 voters submitted their census forms online, which is 0.01 percent of the total voters.
SIR began with door-to-door distribution of census forms by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to eligible voters.
–IANS
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