Prakash Raj Announces 'Election Commission Chalo' Movement in Bengaluru Over Special Intensive Revision of Voter Rolls
Actor Prakash Raj, representing a coalition of civil society organisations in Karnataka, announced an 'Election Commission Chalo' campaign scheduled for 1 September 2026 in Bengaluru. The planned agitation challenges the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls carried out by the Election Commission of India, with civil groups alleging that the exercise was conducted in an unscientific and flawed manner, leading to the arbitrary exclusion of lakhs of eligible voters.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Raj outlined that civil rights bodies will also approach the courts to seek an immediate judicial stay on the entire revision process. The movement brings together several prominent state forums, including Eddelu Karnataka, Muslim Muthahade Mahaz, Namma Mata Namma Hakku Vedike, Active Bangalore, and Nagarika Mata Kavalu Samithi. The groups plan to conduct district-level press conferences across Karnataka to present affected voters and highlight ground-level discrepancies.
The controversy follows the publication of the draft electoral rolls by Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbukkumar, which revealed that 10,796,339 electors—constituting 19.48% of the total 5.54 crore voters on the previous 2025 roll—have been placed under the ASDDO category (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, and Others). In Bengaluru Urban alone, 4,682,703 electors out of 10,388,363 were marked under ASDDO. Civil society groups also claimed that an additional 43.8 lakh voters on the draft roll have been marked as suspicious and will face notices requiring further verification.
Criticizing the operational execution and tight timeline of the exercise, Raj questioned the feasibility of reviewing over 5 crore voter profiles within a single month when the next state Assembly elections are still 2 years away. Civil society representatives stated that while removing dead and duplicate entries is acceptable, categorizing tenants and relocated citizens as 'shifted' without providing a mechanism to transfer addresses has left genuine voters disenfranchised. Demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the organisations stated they will present living witnesses before the Election Commission during the protest on 1 September 2026 to expose procedural flaws.