Media Release

Udupi, Sept 11: A delegation led by Udupi Block Congress Committee president Ramesh Kanchan submitted a memorandum to Udupi deputy commissioner Swaroopa T K, urging immediate steps to address difficulties faced by genuine voters in obtaining residence verification certificates during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

As per the directions of the Election Commission, the SIR process is currently under way, and several voters have received notices due to discrepancies in their voter details and other reasons. The delegation pointed out that many voters do not possess the documents mentioned in the notices and are therefore approaching local revenue authorities to obtain residence verification certificates accepted by the Election Commission.

The Congress leaders alleged that several genuine voters, including those living in rented houses for many years, as well as those whose addresses differ in older records, are facing difficulties in obtaining the certificates. They claimed that such voters are being made to make repeated visits to revenue offices, causing unnecessary hardship.

The delegation urged the deputy commissioner to issue appropriate directions to ensure that eligible citizens who apply for residence verification certificates in connection with the SIR process are issued the certificates promptly in accordance with the rules. They stressed that no eligible citizen should be deprived of their constitutional right to vote and that the electoral revision process should not adversely affect the democratic system.

Congress leaders Mahabala Kundar, Krishna Hebbar, Hariprasad Rai, Ganesh Nerji, Satish Kodavoor, Sukesh Kundar, Satish Kumar Manchi, Shashiraj Kundar, Laxman Poojary, Mamatha Shetty, Asha Chandrashekar, Sandhya Tilakraj, Sadananda Kulal, Arif, Boniface, Bharat Kumar, Shakuntala, Dayananda and Sanjay Acharya were present.