Overview
- Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met a large civil-society delegation in Bengaluru on Friday to discuss the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls and he offered no commitment to oppose it.
- Participants called the revision drive undemocratic and said it risks pushing eligible voters off the rolls, pointing to reported large deletions linked to recent results in West Bengal.
- The groups asked the state to seek a pause or overhaul, extend the revision window to six months, and set up help desks in every ward and gram panchayat to assist people with documents.
- They also urged open scrutiny of draft rolls through ward and gram sabha meetings, a six‑month appeal period for deleted names, social audits of the lists, legal teams to act on violations, and even exploring paper ballots.
- Ministers said they would deliberate internally as the Supreme Court continues to hear challenges to SIR, a process that could shape Karnataka’s approach ahead of future polls including the 2028 Assembly election.