Amid Congress anxiety, minister Satish Jarkiholi backs SIR exercise in Karnataka

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Oct 29, 2026: Amid the Congress party’s opposition to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Karnataka Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi has defended the exercise conducted in the state, saying it was carried out properly.

Following the SIR, the Election Commission published the final electoral rolls containing 4.55 crore voters, down from 5.54 crore before the revision. The rolls have shrunk by around 99.32 lakh voters.

Responding to the Congress’s protests against the SIR, Jarkiholi said the party’s objections were directed at the exercises conducted in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar.

“The SIR in Karnataka was conducted properly because of our protests and training. Our argument is that the exercise should have been carried out in the same manner in other states,” he said.

The minister also defended the removal of nearly one crore names from the electoral rolls, saying they belonged to voters who had died, moved elsewhere or were listed more than once.

“Yes, these are voters who shifted, died or were duplicates,” he said.

Jarkiholi’s remarks came on a day when Karnataka Congress president B K Hariprasad criticised the final electoral rolls published after the SIR in the state.

“Nearly one crore voters have been left out. Our agitation is against this,” Hariprasad said.

He clarified that the party had no objection to the removal of deceased and duplicate voters but questioned the classification of voters as “absent”.

“Our question concerns voters marked as ‘absent’. Where did these voters go? This question remains unanswered,” he said.

According to the Election Commission, more than 19 lakh voters were classified as “absent”, while 65.45 lakh were listed as “permanently shifted” during the SIR in Karnataka.

“The Election Commission has said that no voter was deleted based on bulk Form-7 applications. Then how were nearly one crore voters removed?” Hariprasad asked, alleging a conspiracy to exclude voters who benefit from constitutional protections.

Hariprasad said the Congress had appointed an agency to examine voter deletions at every polling booth. The party would launch a campaign after November 5 to help restore the names of eligible voters who had been left out, he added.