Shivakumar takes Karnataka Congress to Delhi SIR protest as state BJP plans its own stir

Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Sunday that he and the state's Congress legislators will travel to Delhi to join the opposition protest on Monday, October 12, against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Speaking in Bengaluru, Shivakumar criticised the police action in Delhi on Saturday, when around 1,000 people were detained during a protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). He said everyone in a democracy has the right to protest and that the Congress wants every voter to be protected. According to UNI, the state Congress will press for Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls, and Shivakumar accused the authorities of undermining voters' rights through the alleged deletion of eligible names.

The state unit has been campaigning on the issue for weeks. At a protest at Bengaluru's Freedom Park in late September, KPCC president B.K. Hariprasad alleged that more than one crore voters had been removed from Karnataka's rolls. That figure has not been independently verified. The Election Commission maintains that the revision follows the legal framework, and says the SIR is meant to keep voter lists accurate.

The BJP has hit back. State BJP president BY Vijayendra told ANI in Bengaluru on Sunday that the Congress was trying to create anarchy because it could not accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity. He defended the SIR as backed by judicial precedents, including Supreme Court rulings. He also accused the state government of using the police to target BJP workers who file Form-7 applications, which are used to object to names on the voter list.

The state BJP is also preparing a fight on home ground. Its core committee met at the party office in Bengaluru on Sunday to plan a stronger agitation against the Congress government over three issues, UNI reported: the SIR, alleged failures in drought management, and FIRs registered against party workers. The meeting was led by party co-in-charge KS Venkateshwaran.

Vijayendra had already sharpened his attack earlier in the week. Speaking in Bagalkot on Thursday, he called the Rs 2,500 drought compensation given to farmers inadequate and accused the government of putting ring road plans ahead of irrigation projects in north Karnataka. He said the BJP was preparing for zilla and taluk panchayat elections through a "Booth Sankalpa Yatra" to strengthen its organisation at booth level.

The Delhi protest also has a court backdrop. On Sunday the Supreme Court directed the Delhi authorities to keep metro, rail and internet services running normally and said peaceful gatherers should not be detained except as the law allows. The case returns to court on Tuesday.