Bengaluru, Jun 29 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday urged all eligible voters in the state to compulsorily participate in the SIR of electoral rolls beginning on June 30.
Ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, he cautioned people that failure to submit the enumeration form within the stipulated period could result in the loss of voting rights and create difficulties in accessing government welfare benefits.
Addressing a press conference here, Shivakumar said the Karnataka government had put in place an extensive support system, including thousands of facilitation centres, helplines and online services, to assist voters during the month-long exercise being undertaken by the Election Commission.
“Right to vote
is the right to live. Therefore, everyone must preserve their vote. If you do not, you will lose your right to vote. You may also lose access to several benefits provided by the government,” he said.
The chief minister said the SIR exercise would be conducted from June 30 to July 29, during which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) appointed by the Election Commission would visit households and distribute printed enumeration forms containing the existing electoral roll details of voters.
He appealed to every voter to submit the completed enumeration form with a recent photograph before July 29.
“Every individual must submit a separate form. If someone is not present at home, another member of the household may sign the form on their behalf and return it to the BLO,” he said.
Shivakumar stressed that every voter, irrespective of status, was required to submit the fresh enumeration form.
“Even I, D K Shivakumar, despite being the Chief Minister of Karnataka, must compulsorily fill and submit the enumeration form. Only then will my vote remain valid. Otherwise, even my vote will not remain on the electoral roll,” he said.
He said the draft electoral roll would be published on August 5 and those who failed to submit the forms risked their names being omitted.
“If your name is missing from the draft roll, several complications will arise afterwards,” he said.
The chief minister said the Election Commission had also provided for Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of recognised political parties to assist voters in completing the process and obtaining necessary information.
To facilitate the exercise, the government has established 37,464 Voter Facilitation Centres, 11,856 BLO Facilitation Centres and a total of 49,320 help desks across the state, he said.
The government had also made arrangements for voters to complete the process both online and offline, while awareness campaigns would be carried out through television, newspapers and other media, he added.
Shivakumar said the government had issued a special order authorising revenue authorities to issue Permanent Residential Certificates to eligible residents to help them furnish documents wherever required.
He said more than 5.5 crore caste certificates and other records were already available in digital form and could be downloaded using Aadhaar or other identification details.
The chief minister listed documents that could be used during the verification process, including birth certificates, SSLC marks cards, passports, government employee identity cards, caste certificates, land and house allotment records, pension documents, family registers and Permanent Residential Certificates issued by Tahsildars.
He also said young citizens who had attained the age of 18 years could enrol as new voters by submitting Form-6 along with proof of age and other required documents.
Asked about concerns that beneficiaries could lose government schemes if they failed to complete the process, Shivakumar said the government was presently only collecting and verifying information and would not discontinue benefits immediately.
“However, we are not going to stop any benefits immediately. We only need to collect and verify the required information,” he said.
He, however, cautioned that people who failed to retain their voting rights could face difficulties in accessing welfare schemes in future.
“Whether it is an old-age pension, widow pension, Gruha Jyoti, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, housing benefits, site allotments or any other government scheme, the foundation for receiving these benefits is that you must retain your right to vote,” he said.
On protests announced by some organisations against the SIR exercise, Shivakumar said creating awareness about the revision was the government’s responsibility.
“My duty is to create awareness. The courts have already upheld this system under the constitutional framework and directed that the SIR exercise be carried out. Therefore, the government’s responsibility is to create awareness among the people,” he said. PTI GMS KH
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