Prakash Raj seeks Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over deletion of voters

Hyderabad: Strongly criticising the Election Commission’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, actor Prakash Raj demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar here on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club, Prakash Raj alleged that the SIR exercise resulted in the deletion of names of more than 13 crore eligible voters, citing various reports. He said the revision should have been carried out meticulously, even if it required additional time, and alleged that requests for greater scrutiny had been ignored.

He said there had also been a proposal to verify the SIR process through an investigation covering 100 polling booths, but claimed that this too was not accepted. Referring to alleged errors in Karnataka, he said he had brought the issue to the notice of the Chief Minister and was informed that an investigation was underway.

Questioning the Election Commission’s decisions, Prakash Raj referred to the suspension of an Electoral Registration Officer in Goa over the alleged loss of 72 votes and asked whether differences between the Election Commissioners reflected a genuine difference of opinion or whether CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s position alone was being upheld.

He also questioned the need to change the Election Commission’s app and alleged that evidence relating to the electoral-roll revision was being tampered with. Political parties appeared more concerned about protecting their own votes than safeguarding the voting rights of citizens, he remarked.

Recalling his own experience with voter registrations, Prakash Raj said that in 2019 he had been summoned by the Election Commission over registrations at four locations. He explained that he had initially registered in Tamil Nadu while working there, later transferred his vote to his hometown and subsequently used Form 7 to shift his registration to Bengaluru.

Prakash Raj demanded restoration of the names of the voters removed during the SIR exercise, restoration of the earlier electoral rolls and an end to the existing method of selecting Election Commission officials.

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