Prakash Raj demands scrapping of SIR, questions Election Commission over voter exclusions

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Sep 28, 2026: Actor and social activist Prakash Raj has demanded that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka be scrapped, alleging that the exercise could exclude genuine voters from the electoral rolls.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the SIR Verification and Resistance Team at a private hotel in Mangaluru, Raj questioned the rationale and implementation of the revision process. He said the SIR was being undertaken amid concerns over illegal immigrants, Bangladeshis and terrorists, but questioned how many of the voters flagged during the exercise were actually ineligible.

According to official data, Karnataka had around 5.54 crore electors before the SIR exercise, of whom about 1.08 crore were placed in the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Other (ASDDO) category and excluded from the draft roll.

“Who among these 1.08 crore voters are actually infiltrators? The Election Commission must clarify this,” Raj said, questioning how the verification of such a large number of voters could be completed within a short period.

He also questioned whether Booth Level Officers (BLOs) had been adequately trained to conduct house-to-house verification involving crores of voters.

Raj said the Election Commission is an independent institution that revises electoral rolls regularly and questioned why voters were now being asked to provide additional documentation under the SIR process.

43.8 lakh voters issued notices

Raj also raised concerns over the notices issued to more than 43.8 lakh voters in Karnataka over discrepancies in their electoral records or the absence of mapping with the 2002 electoral roll.

The 43.8 lakh notices comprise around 23.45 lakh voters in the “no mapping” category and 20.35 lakh flagged for “logical discrepancies”.

“Do voters marked as deceased actually have death certificates? In some places, BLOs have reportedly not visited homes,” Raj said.

As of September 25, around 41.6 lakh of the 43.8 lakh notices generated in Karnataka had reportedly been delivered, according to the Chief Electoral Officer’s office.

Calls for greater transparency

Raj called for greater transparency in the functioning of the Election Commission. “Voters are not anyone’s slaves,” he said, arguing that while political leaders visit voters’ homes seeking their support during elections, the authorities must clearly explain the process before removing names from electoral rolls.

He also questioned the changes made to the system for appointing Election Commissioners in 2023, saying they had raised concerns about the autonomy of the Election Commission. His remarks regarding the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar were presented as his criticism of the existing appointment system.

Raj said his team was visiting different parts of Karnataka to examine the SIR process and would collect information from around 100 polling booths, particularly about voters whose names were left out of the draft rolls.

He said the findings would be presented at national-level press conferences in Bengaluru and Delhi, followed by a meeting at Jantar Mantar.

“This is not a fight against any particular political party. It is a fight for voters’ rights,” Raj said, while demanding that the SIR process be withdrawn.

M.G. Hegde, K.L. Ashok and SDPI state president Abdul Majeed were among those present at the press conference.