Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Monday, 7 July 2025, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to disenfranchise poor and minority voters through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka. Speaking at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, Shivakumar maintained that his government's outreach was aimed solely at helping citizens protect their right to vote.

Shivakumar's Core Allegation

Shivakumar charged that the opposition was using the SIR process as a tool to deprive marginalised communities of their franchise. He insisted that the state government, despite its reservations about the revision exercise, was extending full cooperation to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to prevent any eligible voter from being struck off the rolls.

'Our government is only urging people to protect their voting rights. We are facilitating access to documents so that no genuine voter is left out,' he said.

Government's Legal Challenge and Cooperation

The Chief Minister confirmed that the Karnataka government had approached the court challenging certain aspects of the SIR process, particularly its timeline. 'We have differences over the SIR process, and we have presented our arguments before the court. We are also unhappy with the timeline and will challenge it legally. However, our government's priority is to protect the voting rights of every citizen,' Shivakumar said.

He stressed that cooperation with the ECI and legal challenges were not contradictory — the government was pursuing both tracks simultaneously. Shivakumar also claimed that no other state had matched Karnataka's level of cooperation with the Commission during the SIR exercise.

Response to BJP-JD(S) Complaint

Responding to a complaint filed by Union Ministers H.D. Kumaraswamy and Pralhad Joshi with the Chief Electoral Officer over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise, Shivakumar dismissed the move as politically motivated. He accused the opposition of expressing a lack of confidence in the very institution — the Election Commission — that it was now invoking.

'The opposition is afraid because the government is creating awareness among people. They are themselves expressing a lack of confidence in the Election Commission and are demanding that the process be scrapped. That decision rests with the Election Commission,' he said.

On Illegal Migrants and Document Access

Shivakumar also pushed back on BJP allegations about illegal Bangladeshi migrants on the electoral rolls, questioning why the party had not deported such individuals during its own tenure in power. 'They keep talking about illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. If they were in power, why didn't they deport them then? Who stopped them?' he asked.

On the documentation front, the Chief Minister noted that nearly 4.5 crore people in Karnataka held caste certificates now available for online download. The government has authorised Deputy Tahsildars to issue residence certificates and enabled citizens to access older electoral records, acknowledging that few voters would still possess documents dating back to 2002.

Booth-Level Support and Party Representation

Shivakumar said help centres had been set up at every polling booth for the first time to assist voters through the SIR process. He also noted that the ECI had permitted all political parties — including the Indian National Congress (Congress), BJP, and Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) — to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLA-2s), and that all three parties had done so. Election officials, he added, were functioning strictly within the Commission's prescribed guidelines.

The SIR row is set to intensify as the legal challenge over the revision timeline moves forward, with the Karnataka government signalling it will continue to contest the schedule in court.