Karnataka SIR: Chief electoral officer meets reps of political parties

Bengaluru: State Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar held a meeting with representatives from recognised political parties on Monday ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list that begins on June 20.

The meeting was attended by Legislative Council member Ramesh Babu (Congress), S Dattatreya (BJP), H N Devaraj (JD-S), Darshan Jain (Aam Aadmi Party), Arun Prasad (Bahujan Samaj Party), M P Munivenkatappa (CPI-M), and S Saravanan from the National People’s Party, among others.

The political parties reportedly urged the CEO to ensure that no eligible voter is left out in the enumeration process, which hopes to cover approximately 5.55 crore registered voters in the state.

Earlier, the CEO had urged all recognised political parties to appoint booth-level agents (BLAs) to work in tandem with the 59,050 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) appointed by the Election Commission for the door-to-door exercise.

“At present, only 25,284 BLAs have been appointed by the parties and appointing BLAs to every polling station can ensure active participation and transparency in the revision process," Anbukumar had said.