Hyderabad: Actor and activist Prakash Raj criticized the SIR process said that the visarjan of Ganesha idols as part of Ganesh Chaturthi festivities is over and that the visarjan of CEC Gyanesh Kumar remains.

Speaking to the media persons at a press meet on Sunday at Hyderabad, he referred the media reports that 38 lakh appeals from voters (for inclusion) who were removed from the electoral rolls are pending before the tribunals in West Bengal.  It may take 10-12 years to decide them, whether the huge number of applicants should wait that long, he said.

Ganesh visarjan is over in Karnataka, Andhra and entire India. Now, Gyanesh Kumar visarjan remains, he said. SIR was stated to be a cleaning-up process when it began, but it has been found to be a deleting process, not an inclusive one, he alleged. Elections are not numbers but citizens of the country who are alive, he said.

He said he took a 10-day tour of different districts to meet people and he was told that their names were deleted just because they were not at home when a Booth Level Officer (BLO) visited. Daily wage workers who have gone elsewhere for work have been removed from the electoral rolls, he alleged.

He also asked whether PM Narendra Modi, who conducts Mann ki Baat, had explained the SIR process in advance. Our demand is that SIR has to be stalled and scrapped, Raj said.

He questioned AP CM Chandrababu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan why they are supporting the CEC Gyanesh Kumar. CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s false SIR process changed CMs in West Bengal, Odisha, AP, Delhi and Tamil Nadu, he said.