Karnataka Ex‑CM Raises Concerns Over Voter List Changes and CEC’s Role

Bengaluru, September 23 – Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has raised serious questions about the functioning of the Election Commission, focusing on recent alterations to the voter list and the role of Chief Election Commissioner Ganesha Kumar. Siddaramaiah said that two election commissioners, Sukbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, have submitted at least fourteen written objections to the commission’s decisions in the past ten months. The objections relate to the registration of new voters, the addition and removal of names from the electoral roll, control over the voter‑list database, and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Siddaramaiah highlighted a report that one commissioner objected to a new question added to Form‑6 for new voter registration without a legal amendment, calling the change "unauthorised and illegal." He also expressed alarm over the slow centralisation of the voter database and the restrictions placed on local election officials who are legally authorised to manage the roll. Siddaramaiah asked who ultimately controls the voter list, why state officials lack full access to the database, and who authorised the removal of roughly 1.6 million names after judicial orders. He claimed that Commissioner Sandhu had questioned the process, yet neither he, the other commissioner nor the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal were briefed on its basis. Siddaramaiah urged the Election Commission to operate within constitutional and legal limits, warning that repeated internal objections could erode public confidence in the electoral process. He demanded full transparency, a public clarification of the SIR process, and a presidential inquiry into the conduct of CEC Ganesha Kumar.