Politics

In Karnataka, during the pandemic and lockdown, mid-day meals in government schools and anganwadis under the National Food Security Act (2013) [1], shut down indefinitely [2,3] amidst growing concerns about how this would affect vulnerable communities. In spite of demands, the state government has not yet undertaken a detailed post pandemic and lockdown survey to identify the immediate and long-term interventions to address and prevent malnutrition. Several visits have been made by civil society organisations, students, nutritionists and academics to different districts of Karnataka, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic and this commentary gives a broad overview of the observations made. There is a need for an in-depth quantitative and qualitative study.

A four-day door-to-door audit in Trilokpuri found voters marked absent, shifted or dead who were still living at their registered addresses, with 47.57 lakh names missing from Delhi’s draft roll, affected voters have until October 30 to file claims

Barely 771 “foreign nationals” identified in Karnataka and a miniscule 1,600 in six other Indian states; yet the hysterical bogey of the “ghuspetiya” (illegal immigrant) has been used to render 130 million plus Indian without the right to vote?

Separate Supreme Court proceedings concern the failure to issue rejection slips to nearly 19.07 lakh excluded people and identity cards to more than 3.11 crore people included in the final register

After discrepancies in Uttar Pradesh’s electoral rolls prompted AAP leaders to question the Election Commission, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer posted a remark invoking caste and religion, following criticism, the handle apologised for its language, who was responsible for the post, what action has been taken, and why is it still online?

Karnataka’s final SIR roll published on October 27, lists 4.55 crore voters, down from 5.54 crore before the SIR, the draft roll deleted 1.08 crore names, while the final net deletion stands at 99.32 lakh, Bengaluru alone saw over 43 lakh names removed

HARHAR campaign launch becomes a platform for religious segregation, with Rane urging Hindus to buy only from Hindus and issuing a chilling threat against Muslims attending the Kumbh Mela

The author argues that for six cogent reasons, the final, post-SIR electoral roll has ensured the deletion of not just 99.3 lakh voters as has been admitted; this includes 75 lakhs of voters in the “shifted” and “absent” category; hence 99.3 lakhs plus another possible 27 lakhs by a gross under-representation of the elector-population ratio (EPR); roughly this means that the deletions swell to an approximate 1.26 crore voter deletions in total that is a staggering 18 per cent of the state’s electorate

The Election Commission says SIR decisions were unanimous, and Form 6 was not amended, but its affidavit does not explain why two Election Commissioners recorded objections after key actions had been taken, or fully address concerns over ECINet, voter deletions in Goa and appeals in West Bengal

Uttar Pradesh has ordered a complete scrutiny of voter additions, deletions and corrections after SIR, following confirmed irregularities in Pilibhit, close election margins, opposition complaints and disputed entries raise questions about whether an internal review can restore public confidence before 2027 polls; while investigative organisations like Reporters Collective and even opposition political parties had been flagging issues for over eight weeks, it took sustained public exposure for the poll body to act