Overview
- Protesters held rallies in Belagavi on Monday and demonstrations in Hubballi on Tuesday to demand suspension or major changes to the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls.
- BJP leaders defended the SIR as a routine exercise to add new voters, remove deceased names and update addresses and cited a Supreme Court reading of Rule 21A to justify deletions.
- Activists say election officers are using inconsistent documentary requirements across states and that prior roll revisions have already removed large numbers of poor, labour, minority and women voters.
- Left parties and local groups warned that Karnataka is using a new 'logical discrepancy' detection yardstick that could delete voters from specific constituencies and they demanded no use of the software, gram sabhas, machine-readable lists and at least six months for appeals.
- State governments and the ECI are being pressed to alter procedures or suspend SIR as the political dispute hardens, with the BJP accusing opponents of fear of losing 'bogus' votes while opponents say the exercise risks wide disenfranchisement.