The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to retain the names of 22 people out of the 9,159 residents who had received notices to prove their residence in the Shivajinagar Assembly constituency. The ECI had issued notices in response to a complaint by BJP sympathisers alleging 26,000 fake voters in the area in October 2022. The ECI ordered a 100% check of all deletions and additions to the electoral rolls in the constituency. Following this, around 9,000 residents received notices. The notice stated that the names of these voters would be deleted from the electoral roll if they failed to appear in front of ECI officials with the requisite documents.
While 22 residents have been granted a reprieve after submitting proof of their continued address, the fate of the remaining voters hangs in the balance, leading to accusations of voter harassment and a violation of the fundamental right to vote. An investigation by TNM in November 2022, revealed that a private agency with links to the BJP had been collecting voter data illegally. The investigation also found that hundreds of voters – particularly Muslims and Dalits – in the Shivajinagar constituency were in danger of having their names removed from the electoral roll.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, March 8, Priyank Kharge, Communications Chairman of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) questioned how the complainants obtained the names of 26,000 voters in the constituency. “Why hasn’t the ECI investigated how seven individuals acquired information about 26,000 voters?” He further expressed concerns about the potential consequences of the BJP’s move seeking the deletion of voters. “If BJP is allowed to carry out such actions, it sets a dangerous precedent that can allow any political party to submit fake surveys or complaints to remove voters from the electoral list in the future,” he said.
Congress MLA of Shivajinagar, Rizwan Arshad, condemned the ECI's move to issue notices to thousands of residents in the constituency to appear before election authorities or risk being removed from the electoral list. “What about the other 9,000 voters in Shivajinagar? Should they also appeal to the High Court to avail their fundamental right to vote?” he said.
He accused the ECI of violating the fundamental right to vote to please the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He also said that many affected residents were daily wage workers who could not afford to lose a day's wages to prove their address. He said, “This is one way of harassing voters. ECI is violating standard operating procedures (SOPs)to please BJP and delete the voters who may not vote for them,” he said.
The ECI included the name of the 22 people after they filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court, seeking the retention of their names in the electoral roll. The petitioners also filed a memo to the court that they had submitted their proof of identity to ECI. Following the submission of the memo, the ECI submitted to the High Court that their names will not be deleted as they have submitted proof of their continued address.
The final electoral roll for the constituency was published on January 15, 2023, and just eight days later, the BJP demanded the removal of 26,000 names. The party then filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court on February 1 regarding the same. The ECI's move to send out notices to residents after publishing the final electoral list is considered a violation of the SOPs laid down by the ECI on September 13, 2021. These SOPs prohibit any deletions from the electoral roll in the six months before the end of an Assembly's term.
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