Overview
- Karnataka formally notified rules to grant Permanent Residence Certificates to help people prove residence for the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of rolls, a measure the state says will prevent eligible voters from being deleted.
- The PRC guidelines accept birth, long-term study or parental residence, government records such as Aadhaar and voter entries, property records and, where documents are missing, local enquiry by revenue officials as proof.
- Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday raising constitutional and national security concerns and asking that implementation be kept in abeyance pending central examination.
- The BJP in Karnataka has announced plans for legal challenges and petitions to the Governor, while the state government says it has the authority to issue these administrative certificates and dismisses the opposition’s allegations as political.
- Rights groups have welcomed the PRC as helpful for migrants and marginalised residents but the Election Commission’s formal acceptance of PRCs for inclusion in voter rolls remains unresolved and could determine whether the certificates change who is enrolled.