SIR row: Prakash Raj begins 10-day campaign in Karnataka to document voter grievances

Mangalore Today News Network

Kalaburagi, Sep 24, 2026: Actor Prakash Raj has launched a 10-day ‘SIR Resistance Tour’ and social audit campaign in Karnataka, saying no eligible voter should face injustice due to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Raj launched the campaign in Kalaburagi on Wednesday after paying floral tributes to the statue of B R Ambedkar at a slum area in Ramnagar. Addressing residents, he questioned whether the SIR exercise was leading to exclusion rather than ensuring the inclusion of eligible voters.

As part of the campaign, evidence on difficulties faced by people during the SIR process will be collected from 100 polling stations across various districts. Raj said the findings would be submitted to the state government on September 30 and presented to the media in New Delhi on October 1.

He also said people affected by the SIR process from Karnataka and other states would gather at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 15 to voice their concerns.

Raj said the Nagarika Matakavalu Samiti (Citizens’ Voter Watch Committee) had been opposing the SIR process from the beginning and had also organised a ‘Chalo Election Commission’ protest.

Referring to the 5.21 lakh voters identified under the Absentee, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) category, Raj said they could seek restoration of their names by submitting Form 6. He questioned why only around 25,000 people had approached authorities despite the Election Commission’s claim that the process had been widely publicised.

Citing developments in West Bengal, Raj claimed that 38 lakh people who had lost their voting rights had approached the courts. He said a tribunal had been constituted to hear their petitions and, according to him, had indicated that it could take around 15 years to dispose of all the cases.

“We are conducting this special campaign to ensure that eligible voters in Karnataka do not face a similar situation,” Raj said.

During the programme, several residents shared their grievances regarding the SIR process. One resident cited the case of a family with twins that allegedly received a notice over a ‘logical discrepancy’ concerning the absence of a gap between the children’s births.

Activists K L Ashok, Renuka Singe, K Neela, Meenakshi Bali, Renuka Saradagi and Salim Chittapuri were among those present.