My Remarks On SIR Were Misinterpreted, Clarifies Satish Jarkiholi
In its post, the BJP stated that Jarkiholi had justified the deletion of nearly one crore names from electoral rolls on the grounds that they belonged to duplicate, deceased or relocated voters
Belagavi: A day after the BJP shared a video clip of his remarks on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and claimed that he had supported the exercise, Minister Satish Jarkiholi on Friday clarified that his statement had been misinterpreted.
The clarification came after the BJP's official X handle posted a 31-second video clip of Jarkiholi's remarks on Thursday, claiming that the minister had defended the SIR process in Karnataka, contrary to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's stand.
In its post, the BJP stated that Jarkiholi had justified the deletion of nearly one crore names from electoral rolls on the grounds that they belonged to duplicate, deceased or relocated voters.
“The message is clear: even Congress leaders recognize the need for a clean voter roll, exposing Rahul Gandhi’s anti-democratic politics,” the post stated.
Responding to the BJP's claims, Jarkiholi said in a post on X on Friday that his remarks to the media had been taken out of context.
In a post on X, Jarkiholi said his comments to the media were intended to highlight how the Congress had thwarted alleged attempts by the BJP to remove the names of Congress-supporting voters from electoral rolls in Karnataka through Form 7.
He said that, unlike in other states, the Congress had successfully resisted such attempts in Karnataka following the efforts of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and under the guidance of Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.
“My statement was meant to convey that we successfully thwarted attempts to delete the names of eligible voters from electoral rolls through Form 7 in Karnataka. We launched this fight from our Belagavi district and successfully countered such attempts,” he said adding that he did not say that the SIR process was correct.
“My stand against any attempt to deprive eligible voters of their rights has been firm from the beginning. I strongly oppose any move to illegally remove the names of eligible voters from electoral rolls. I stand firmly with our leader Rahul Gandhi in protecting democratic values and voting rights,” he asserted.