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A controversy has erupted over the door-to-door survey of Scheduled Caste households regarding internal reservation in Karnataka, with complaints that survey personnel merely pasted stickers on houses without collecting any details.
The stickers state that the survey has been completed, leaving residents fuming.
Social media is flooded with social media posts ridiculing the state government's survey process.
Multiple incidents have been reported of people confronting survey staff for failing to collect individual details.
In one such case, an incident of surveyors allegedly assaulting a local resident in Bengaluru in front of his family was reported on Thursday.
Following the surfacing of CCTV footage of the assault, the Karnataka government suspended three officers and ordered a probe.
The footage also revealed that a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) worker, deputed for street sweeping duties, was used to paste the survey stickers.
Several residents have claimed that stickers were pasted on vacant houses and that they never interacted with any survey personnel.
People are questioning how the state government can claim the survey is complete without collecting any actual data.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka BJP has slammed the Congress-led government in the state over the alleged flawed internal survey.
Taking to social media on Thursday, the BJP criticised the Congress-led state government, saying, "Karnataka's caste census of the SC community is yet another guaranteed loot of Kannadigas' tax money. The "Lottery CM" appears to have instructed his team to slap "survey done" stickers on doors without visiting homes, even marking vacant houses."
"What credibility does a survey have if it is done in locked homes? Who did the surveyors talk to?" BJP asked.
"Scam CM Siddaramaiah and Congress have never truly stood with SC/ST communities. This is just another scam in the name of a caste survey to loot Kannadigas' tax money," BJP said.
"Caste census is not a state subject. So why is Rahul Gandhi and his circus company so interested? The answer is simple: funds for the Bihar elections," it added.
The JD-S while criticising the state government on X, said, "This is a bogus survey by the Dalit-oppressive Congress-led Karnataka government. CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar who shout about uplifting Scheduled Castes -- What kind of survey is it where notices are secretly pasted on houses without even collecting information from the homeowners or residents?"
"Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, who are immersed in bribery, corruption, lust for power, and infighting over positions -- don't waste taxpayers' money on your political games at the expense of Kannadigas," JD-S said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, while announcing door-to-door survey to provide internal reservation for 101 sub-castes that come under Scheduled Caste list, said that specific data is required.
Justice Nagamohan Das Commission has made all preparations to collect empirical data and about 65,000 teachers are used for conducting the survey.
Karnataka BJP has announced that it will launch statewide protest from August 1, demanding implementation of internal reservation in the state.
The saffron party has also criticised the Congress-led government for using the issue of internal reservation as a "political ploy" for votebank politics.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday at the state BJP headquarters -- Jagannath Bhavan, in Bengaluru, former Deputy Chief Minister and MP Govind Karjol made the announcement and alleged that the Siddaramaiah-led government is conspiring to avoid implementing internal reservation.