Mysuru: Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) district committee secretary Jagadeesh Surya on Thursday urged the state govt to take measures to protect the voting rights of all citizens during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which will begin across the state from June 30. Referring to widespread criticism of the process in states such as West Bengal and Bihar, he alleged that the exercise had led to large-scale disenfranchisement, exclusion, and intimidation of vulnerable citizens. He claimed that around six crore voters were deleted during similar verification drives in other states. He said the state govt must ensure that the voting rights of poor, migrant, minority, Dalit, adivasis, and other marginalised communities are not affected during the revision. He also urged the state govt to appeal to the Election Commission (EC) not to apply the concept of “logistical discrepancies,” which, he said, was used during verification drives in other states and resulted in the deletion of crores of voters.
