BJP urges ECI to halt Karnataka SEC’s ‘parallel’ SIR exercise in Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jun 25 (PTI) The BJP on Thursday urged the ECI to immediately intervene and direct the SEC of Karnataka to halt its "parallel" SIR process for the GBA wards, alleging that such a concurrent exercise would dilute the purity and legal finality of the electoral process.

In a letter to Chief Electoral Office V Anbukkumar, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said the ECI had already mandated a comprehensive SIR (Phase III) in Karnataka and frozen the Assembly Constituency electoral rolls on June 16 to maintain data integrity.

"In complete disregard of the ongoing central mandate, the State Election Commission (SEC), Karnataka, issued an order dated June 19. Citing local party complaints, the SEC has ordered an independent, parallel Special Intensive Revision and frozen its own localized ward rolls as of April 18 for 27 specific wards within the Gandhinagar and Mahadevapura Assembly Constituencies. The SEC intends to roll out its field operations immediately from the 26th of this month," he claimed.

Narayanaswamy further claimed that a simultaneous SIR process involving the same voters will create massive public and voter confusion as launching a localized field revision on June 26 under the SEC, followed immediately by the ECI's state-wide house-to-house enumeration on June 30, will create severe panic and bewilderment among voters.

He alleged that citizens will be subjected to repetitive official visitations with conflicting deadlines, leading to a breakdown of transparency.

"Deploying different sets of field machinery, BLOs, and administrative staff twice within the span of one week for the same households is an egregious waste of taxpayer money, government resources, and valuable administrative hours," the BJP leader alleged.

Narayanaswamy alleged that any separate mechanism running parallel without the explicit concurrence of the ECI directly dilutes the purity and legal finality of the electoral process.

"Therefore, I urgently request the Election Commission of India to invoke its constitutional powers under Article 324 to intervene immediately, issue a stay or directive to the State Election Commission of Karnataka, and command them to halt their separate, parallel SIR process for the GBA (Greater Bengaluru Authority) wards," he said.

The Supreme Court has extended till August 31 the time for holding the long-pending elections for the Bengaluru civic body.

The BJP leader also urged that the SEC must be directed to merge their grievances or findings into the ECI's standard state-wide SIR starting on June 30 to ensure administrative uniformity, fiscal responsibility, and public clarity. PTI