Karnataka: As SIR rolls out, women fear disenfranchisement

From fears that married women are being asked to trace their names in decades-old electoral rolls to concerns that daughters-in-law do not even find a place in the new forms, women’s groups in Karnataka warned that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls could end up pushing many women out of the voters’ list.

At a consultation held on Saturday, representatives of around 32 women’s organisations and social activists discussed the growing risk of disenfranchisement under the SIR being carried out by the Election Commission of India, which they argued has been designed places the burden on citizens to prove their eligibility.