Former MLA demands probe into ‘abnormal’ rise in voters in 2013-18 in Shivamogga assembly constituency

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Former MLA and JD(S) leader K.B. Prasanna Kumar speaking to the media in Shivamogga on Thursday. | Photo Credit: S.K. Dinesh

Alleging a conspiracy behind a sudden and abnormal increase in the number of voters in Shivamogga constituency between 2013 and 2018, former MLA and Janata Dal (Secular) leader K.B. Prasanna Kumar has urged the Election Commission to investigate the matter and bring out the truth.

Addressing a press conference in Shivamogga on Thursday, Mr. Prasanna Kumar said the number of voters in the constituency stood at 2,15,937 during the 2013 Assembly election, when he won the seat on a Congress ticket. By the 2018 election, the number had risen to 2,56,373 — an “abnormal” increase of 40,436 voters. In the most recent election, held in 2023, the count stood at 2,60,757, a “normal” increase of 4,384 voters.

Questioning the sudden addition of over 40,000 voters ahead of the 2018 election — in which he was defeated by former BJP Minister K.S. Eshwarappa — the former MLA sought to know the reason behind such a large number of new enrolments within a span of five years.

Mr. Prasanna Kumar said he was raising the issue now in light of the on-going Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He said the draft voters’ list released by the district administration showed 11,575 untraceable voters, 29,967 who had permanently shifted, and another 5,719 names already enrolled elsewhere.

“The figures in the draft electoral roll under the SIR show a total of 56,432 Absent, Shift, Duplicate and Dead (ASDD) voters including 9,187 who are deceased. The untraceable and permanently shifted voters likely point to the reasons behind the abnormal increase in voters during 2013-18,” he alleged.

The former MLA noted that a few other constituencies in the State, including Chamundeshwari in Mysuru, had witnessed a similar “abnormal increase” in voters during 2013-18; then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lost the Chamundeshwari election in 2018. “The Election Commission should probe the sudden increase in the number of voters and take action against those responsible,” he said.

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