BENGALURU: Karnataka minister Satish Jarkiholi on Thursday clarified his earlier remarks on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying his statement had been “misinterpreted”.He said he intended to convey that the alleged BJP attempt to delete names of “Congress supporting voters” from electoral rolls through Form 7 had been foiled following the agitation led by Rahul Gandhi.In a statement on X, Jarkiholi said, “My statement given before the media regarding SIR has been misinterpreted.”Clarifying his intent, he said, “Compared to other states, the BJP’s conspiracy to delete names of Congress-supporting voters from the electoral rolls in Karnataka through Form-7 has been foiled through the struggle of our national leader Shri Rahul Gandhi and under the guidance of Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri D.K. Shivakumar — this was the intention of my statement. However, I did not make a statement in the sense that the SIR process is correct.“He further said that attempts to delete names of eligible voters had been foiled and successfully countered in Belagavi district itself.“My stand against any attempt to snatch away the rights of eligible voters has been firm from the beginning. I strongly oppose attempts to illegally remove names of eligible voters from the voters’ list. I stand firmly with our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi for the protection of democratic values and voting rights,” he said.“I clarify that my statement should not be misinterpreted and its real intent should be understood,” Jarkiholi added.Earlier on Thursday, Jarkiholi had defended the SIR exercise in Karnataka, saying it was conducted “properly” and that other states should follow the state’s example.“We didn’t protest about SIR in Karnataka, we raised issues about the SIR process in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, etc. Because of all the training we gave, SIR has been done properly in Karnataka, we want it to be done the same way in other states too,” Jarkiholi said.On the deletion of one crore votes, he said, “Yes, these are people who have died, shifted, or duplications; this should have been done in other places.”His remarks drew a response from his party colleague and Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, who questioned Jarkiholi’s assessment and cited alleged irregularities in the submission of Form 7 applications, which are used to seek the deletion of names from electoral rolls.“I’m not sure what information Jarkiholi has. For example, in Chittapur, in a single booth, 40 people were targeted who were from a single community, and that was investigated by the returning officers, and it was found that the pre-printed Form 7 was available in bulk. Nobody knew its origins. The person who had submitted the Form 7 did not know why he had done that, and all they said was, ‘It’s come from the top.’ So that’s a very clear indication that this is a conspiracy that has its roots all over the place, and it’s centralised. We will get to the bottom of it,” Kharge said.Jarkiholi’s clarification comes a day ahead of the INDIA bloc’s mega rally scheduled for November 1. The proposed rally has also drawn concerns from traders’ bodies over the potential loss of business during the peak festive season due to the expected large turnout.With around 10 lakh people expected to attend, traders’ bodies have warned that the gathering could create a situation similar to a “lockdown”, affecting more than 20 markets around the Ramlila Maidan area.(With Agency Inputs)
