Abhijeet Dipke to join Bengaluru People’s Tribunal on SIR

CH NEWS BENGALURU Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke will participate in a ‘People’s Tribunal’ being organised by civil society groups from across Karnataka in Bengaluru on October 8 to protest the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and deletion of names under the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead and Others (ASDDO) categories. CJP spokesperson Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, actor Prakash Raj and representatives of other organisations are also expected to participate in the programme. The groups organising the tribunal are expected to demand that all deletions carried out during the SIR exercise be scrapped and that the electoral rolls prepared before the revision be retained. They are also expected to seek the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging irregularities in the electoral roll revision process. The organisers have alleged that the SIR exercise has affected the voting rights of lakhs of people, particularly those belonging to oppressed and minority communities. They claim that some voters have faced difficulties in producing documents during hearings following notices issued in connection with the revision. “The tribunal will publicly present evidence on the background of the SIR process and the injustices arising from it, including cases of voters facing difficulties over documentation,” the organisers said. The event is expected to provide a platform for affected voters and participating organisations to present their concerns over the revision process. The groups said they would place before the tribunal accounts and evidence concerning alleged voter deletions, documentation-related difficulties and other issues arising during the SIR exercise. The protest comes amid a wider political and public debate in Karnataka over the electoral roll revision and the deletion of names under various categories. Election authorities have maintained that the revision is intended to identify and update electoral records. The organisers said the tribunal would seek greater public attention to the concerns raised by voters and demand restoration of names they believe were wrongly removed from the rolls.