Internal divisions have emerged within the Karnataka unit of the Congress party over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. While senior party leader Rahul Gandhi has been spearheading a nationwide campaign challenging the process, Karnataka Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satish Jarkiholi voiced clear support for the exercise. Jarkiholi asserted that the removal of approximately 1 crore names from the state's voter list was entirely justifiable and necessary, arguing that retaining deceased individuals, migrated residents, and duplicate entries on the rolls served no rational administrative purpose.
Satish Jarkiholi Defends Deletions and Recommends Karnataka Approach Nationwide
According to Satish Jarkiholi, the implementation of the revision exercise in Karnataka was completely devoid of irregularities. He explained that the party's reservations were focused primarily on practices observed in other states such as West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Bihar rather than within Karnataka. The minister claimed that rigorous local scrutiny, party monitoring, and structured training programs ensured that the revision within Karnataka remained clean and reliable. Consequently, he advocated that other states across the country should adopt the identical administrative model to clean up their respective voter databases.
When questioned directly regarding the massive scale of removing 1 crore voters, Jarkiholi maintained that the exercise strictly targeted non-existent entries. He stated, "Yes, these are people who have died, who have moved away, or whose names were registered twice." This defense of the revision arrived at an awkward moment for the party, just as Congress prepares for a massive demonstration and rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1 to highlight voter roll controversies alongside other key issues.
Priyank Kharge Counters Claims with Allegations of Voter Suppression
The remarks provoked immediate friction within the state cabinet, leaving party leaders scrambling to explain the contradictory stances. Karnataka Cabinet Minister Priyank Kharge promptly disputed Jarkiholi's assessment, arguing that the PWD minister was out of touch with ground realities and speaking without verified facts. Kharge expressed surprise at his colleague's position, insisting that there was substantial documented proof of deliberate manipulation and unlawful disenfranchisement across multiple assembly segments.
To support his criticism, Priyank Kharge cited specific local cases where genuine voters were targeted. In Chittapur, he alleged that 40 citizens belonging to a single community were singled out and removed at a solitary polling booth. Furthermore, in Vijayapura, more than 50 living individuals were falsely classified as deceased through fraudulent submissions of 'Form 7', only for officials to later discover that every single one of those voters was alive. Kharge reiterated that his objections were anchored in concrete documentation, rejecting any notion that the revision in Karnataka had proceeded without malpractice.
