{"id":13851,"date":"2026-09-13T04:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T22:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/?p=13851"},"modified":"2026-09-13T04:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T22:40:15","slug":"voting-rights-must-be-equal-for-all-prakash-raj-questions-sir-irregularities-preferential-treatment-for-celebrities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/?p=13851","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Voting Rights Must Be Equal for All\u2019: Prakash Raj Questions SIR Irregularities, Preferential Treatment for Celebrities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anti-SIR Coalition Rejects \u2018Arbitrary\u2019 Revision Process, Plans Statewide Audit of Voter Lists<\/h1>\n

\u2018\u0cb8\u0cb0\u0ccd\u0cb5\u0cbe\u0ca7\u0cbf\u0c95\u0cbe\u0cb0\u0cbf\u2019 \u0cae\u0ca4\u0ca6\u0cbe\u0cb0\u0cb0 \u0caa\u0c9f\u0ccd\u0c9f\u0cbf \u0caa\u0cb0\u0cbf\u0cb7\u0ccd\u0c95\u0cb0\u0ca3\u0cc6 \u0ca4\u0cbf\u0cb0\u0cb8\u0ccd\u0c95\u0cb0\u0cbf\u0cb8\u0cbf\u0ca6 SIR \u0cb5\u0cbf\u0cb0\u0ccb\u0ca7\u0cbf \u0c92\u0c95\u0ccd\u0c95\u0cc2\u0c9f: \u0cb8\u0cbe\u0cae\u0cc2\u0cb9\u0cbf\u0c95 \u0cae\u0ca4\u0ca6\u0cbe\u0cb0\u0cb0 \u0cb9\u0cca\u0cb0\u0c97\u0cbf\u0ca1\u0cc1\u0cb5\u0cbf\u0c95\u0cc6 \u0c86\u0cb0\u0ccb\u0caa, \u0cb0\u0cbe\u0c9c\u0ccd\u0caf\u0cb5\u0ccd\u0caf\u0cbe\u0caa\u0cbf \u0cb8\u0cbe\u0cae\u0cbe\u0c9c\u0cbf\u0c95 \u0cb2\u0cc6\u0c95\u0ccd\u0c95\u0caa\u0cb0\u0cbf\u0cb6\u0ccb\u0ca7\u0ca8\u0cc6\u0c97\u0cc6 \u0c86\u0c97\u0ccd\u0cb0\u0cb9<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Bengaluru, Sept. 12:<\/strong> A coalition of secular parties and civil society organisations opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has decided to reject the process, alleging serious irregularities in voter-list revision and warning that eligible citizens are being pushed out of the electoral rolls.<\/p>\n

At a press conference in Bengaluru, Eddelu Karnataka office-bearer Noor Sridhar released \u201cCivil Society FIR-2 against SIR\u201d<\/em>, focusing on alleged problems during the notice, document-verification, hearing and re-enrolment stages. An earlier report, FIR-1, had alleged that inadequate public information, insufficient training of BLOs and a hurried enumeration exercise resulted in 1.08 crore voters being placed in the ASDDO category for deletion.<\/p>\n

\u2018Notices Delayed, Voters Given Little Time\u2019<\/h3>\n

Sridhar said civil society groups had opposed SIR in principle but still worked for months to ensure genuine voters were not excluded. Volunteers conducted awareness programmes, established help desks, offered technical assistance and proposed village and ward-level meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany affected people are daily-wage workers, construction workers and migrants. If a notice is given today and they are asked to appear with documents tomorrow, how are they expected to comply?\u201d Sridhar asked.<\/p>\n

He alleged that although the notice period began on August 24, notices had not reached many voters even by September 4. In some cases, notices were allegedly served on September 5 for hearings on September 7.<\/p>\n

To document the allegations, civil society groups will conduct a \u201cMatakavulu Sakshi Survey\u201d<\/em> across 100 polling booths, examining exclusions, notices, hearings, documents sought and difficulties faced by eligible voters.<\/p>\n

Coalition Seeks Special Session Debate, Legal Challenge<\/h3>\n

CPM leader K. Mahantesh demanded cancellation of what he described as a \u201cdefective and malicious\u201d SIR. He called for the Election Commission to accept responsibility and resign, while also demanding changes to the process of appointing election commissioners.<\/p>\n

The coalition urged the Karnataka government to include SIR alongside the Kasturirangan and drought issues during the special legislative session scheduled for September 21-23. It said the disputed electoral rolls should not be accepted or used for local elections and called for legal action and a statewide social audit to restore eligible voters.<\/p>\n

Actor Prakash Raj announced an \u201cSIR Study Campaign\u201d<\/em> from September 22 to 30 across Karnataka. \u201cTeams will travel across the state, document voters\u2019 experiences and release a comprehensive report by month-end,\u201d he said. Evidence from states where SIR has been implemented will also be presented at a proposed national public hearing in Delhi on October 15.<\/p>\n

Prakash Raj Questions \u2018Different Treatment\u2019 for Celebrities<\/h3>\n

Referring to reports of actor Shivarajkumar and other public figures receiving notices, Prakash Raj questioned whether influential citizens were receiving preferential assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre ordinary citizens any less? Aren\u2019t they human beings too? Voting rights must be equal whether someone is rich, poor, famous or unknown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Raj also questioned the use of Form 6 for people whose names were previously on the rolls, arguing that asking such voters to declare themselves first-time applicants creates a contradiction. He further alleged discrepancies between Kannada and English versions of the August 24 draft rolls, including different names against the same EPIC number.<\/p>\n

\u201cCitizens are standing in queues and pleading to protect their voting rights,\u201d Raj said. \u201cIn India, the right to vote must be equal for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actor Prakash Raj, B.T. Lalitha Naik, J.M. Veerasangaiah, K. Mahantesh, Sitaram Gundappa, Amjad Pasha, Nagesh Aralakuppe, Ramakrishna and Indiramma attended the press conference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Anti-SIR Coalition Rejects \u2018Arbitrary\u2019 Revision Process, Plans Statewide Audit of Voter Lists \u2018\u0cb8\u0cb0\u0ccd\u0cb5\u0cbe\u0ca7\u0cbf\u0c95\u0cbe\u0cb0\u0cbf\u2019 \u0cae\u0ca4\u0ca6\u0cbe\u0cb0\u0cb0 \u0caa\u0c9f\u0ccd\u0c9f\u0cbf \u0caa\u0cb0\u0cbf\u0cb7\u0ccd\u0c95\u0cb0\u0ca3\u0cc6 \u0ca4\u0cbf\u0cb0\u0cb8\u0ccd\u0c95\u0cb0\u0cbf\u0cb8\u0cbf\u0ca6 SIR \u0cb5\u0cbf\u0cb0\u0ccb\u0ca7\u0cbf \u0c92\u0c95\u0ccd\u0c95\u0cc2\u0c9f: \u0cb8\u0cbe\u0cae\u0cc2\u0cb9\u0cbf\u0c95 \u0cae\u0ca4\u0ca6\u0cbe\u0cb0\u0cb0 \u0cb9\u0cca\u0cb0\u0c97\u0cbf\u0ca1\u0cc1\u0cb5\u0cbf\u0c95\u0cc6 \u0c86\u0cb0\u0ccb\u0caa, \u0cb0\u0cbe\u0c9c\u0ccd\u0caf\u0cb5\u0ccd\u0caf\u0cbe\u0caa\u0cbf \u0cb8\u0cbe\u0cae\u0cbe\u0c9c\u0cbf\u0c95 \u0cb2\u0cc6\u0c95\u0ccd\u0c95\u0caa\u0cb0\u0cbf\u0cb6\u0ccb\u0ca7\u0ca8\u0cc6\u0c97\u0cc6 \u0c86\u0c97\u0ccd\u0cb0\u0cb9 Bengaluru, Sept. 12: A coalition of secular parties and civil society organisations opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has decided to reject the process, alleging serious irregularities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1172,1086,1341],"class_list":["post-13851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-karnataka","tag-election-commission","tag-prakash-raj","tag-sir"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":42,"today_views":2},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13851"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13855,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13851\/revisions\/13855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}