"CEC has judicial immunity, what can anybody do?" Priyank Kharge says SIR should be inclusive

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 2 : Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday raised concerns over the ongoing SIR process, stating that Chief Minister DK Shivkumar has explicitly warned that those excluded from the exercise risk losing access to both Central and State government schemes.
Speaking on the challenges surrounding the process, Kharge emphasised the need for a more inclusive approach to ensure no citizen is disenfranchised or deprived of their rights.
"The CM of Karnataka said that in other states, the people who have been excluded from SIR will not be able to avail the central government schemes as well as state government schemes. Our CM has told explicitly that you participate in SIR," Kharge told reporters.
The minister further revealed that the Karnataka Cabinet has already flagged several technical and procedural "loopholes" in the current system to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
"The cabinet has taken a decision and given it to the CEC that all the loopholes that are in SIR should be rectified, and then you start the SIR. Unfortunately, we have not heard anything. So either you stay out of this entire exercise or be in it and ensure your name is there. What else choice do we have?" he added.
Kharge also touched upon the legal hurdles in challenging the process, pointing toward the immunity enjoyed by the poll body.
"When the Chief Election Commissioner has judicial immunity for any act he does during his service, then what can anybody say or do?" he questioned.
"We are not against SIR. We are saying that it can be done better; it should be more inclusive in nature and, more importantly, no voter, no citizen should be left out," Kharge said.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the state Assembly session has been deferred to August in view of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive in the state, adding that the state government will finalise dates only after the completion of the exercise.
Addressing a press conference here, he added that the state government has decided to postpone the Assembly session, originally planned for July, to August as several officials, MLAs and political parties remain engaged in the SIR process.
"We had planned to convene it earlier, possibly in the second or third week, and therefore wanted to allow 15 days' time. But now, because of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, we have arrived at a different decision. Let the SIR process be completed first," he said.
He further said that the notification process related to SIR will continue till August 5, and until then, elected representatives and officials are fully occupied with ensuring that eligible voters are not left out of the electoral rolls.
The Chief Minister added that the Assembly session would be scheduled after the publication of draft rolls.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which commenced across the state, will continue till July 29.
Karnataka Cabinet passed a resolution setting out conditions it wanted the ECI to fulfil before the exercise began in the state.
The Cabinet asked the Commission to conduct a full independent review of the SIR process, including its legal basis, deletion criteria, supervisory structure, software systems and safeguards. The cabinet also wants ECI to extend the timeline for submission of Enumeration Forms to at least three months to avoid undue pressure on BLOs and the administration.
It also demanded a detailed manual explaining every discrepancy criterion, including so-called "logical discrepancies," along with the underlying algorithms, software logic, SOPs and the officials responsible at each stage.