Bengaluru, 30 Oct (H.S.): Karnataka Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi on Friday clarified that his remarks on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had been misinterpreted, asserting that he had not endorsed the exercise or justified the removal of eligible voters.

The senior Congress leader issued a written statement and video message on X following political criticism of his earlier comments, which appeared to suggest that the revision had been conducted properly in Karnataka.

Jarkiholi said his intention was to explain how Congress had resisted alleged attempts by the BJP to remove its supporters from electoral rolls through the misuse of Form 7.

“My statement was taken out of context. I did not mean that the SIR process was correct,” he said.

He credited the campaign led by Rahul Gandhi and the guidance of Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar with helping counter such alleged attempts in Karnataka. He maintained that Congress would oppose any effort to deprive eligible citizens of their voting rights.

In his video message, Jarkiholi said the campaign against alleged unlawful deletions had begun in Belagavi district, where a police case was registered and several people were questioned.

The minister said approximately 17,000 names had subsequently been found deleted from the electoral rolls in his Yamakanamardi Assembly constituency.

However, he said the updated final electoral roll had not yet been received and that the reasons for these deletions would require verification.

Once the list became available, the party would examine whether those removed had relocated, died or held duplicate registrations, he said, adding that clearer information would be provided after scrutiny.

His clarification comes amid continuing allegations over electoral roll revision and the alleged misuse of Form 7 to seek deletions. Jarkiholi reiterated that his remarks concerned efforts to prevent wrongful exclusions and should not be interpreted as supporting SIR.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman