BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday accused the EC of acting as a "puppet" of the BJP and colluding with the ruling party in "vote theft" while joining a Congress protest here against the poll panel's SIR of electoral rolls.

Addressing the protest organised by the Karnataka Congress at Freedom Park, Shivakumar urged President Droupadi Murmu to intervene and demanded that the Election Commission be dissolved, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be arrested, elections the CM alleged were "illegally held" be annulled and the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise be scrapped and conducted afresh.

Congress leaders and workers staged the protest demanding Kumar's resignation and arrest, holding placards and raising slogans against the Election Commission.

Several senior party leaders, among them former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and Veerappa Moily, state Congress president B K Hariprasad, AICC secretary Gopinath Palaniappan, ministers and legislators participated in the demonstration.

Citing an Indian Express investigation, Congress leaders alleged that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge.

They alleged that the SIR exercise had resulted in the deletion or categorisation of a large number of voters from the electoral rolls.

"The EC has become a puppet of the BJP. Names of poor voters and those who criticise the administration are being targeted. They have become partners in vote theft along with the BJP," Shivakumar alleged.

He said the EC was granted autonomy under the Constitution but alleged that its powers were being misused.

"Gyanesh Kumar is not the Chief Election Commissioner, but the Chief Selection Commissioner. People will rise against these injustices. The Centre should convene a session of Parliament and discuss the issue at the earliest," he said.

Shivakumar demanded that the SIR exercise conducted so far be cancelled and a fresh revision undertaken.

Taking a dig at the Centre, he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appointed "puppets" to the EC, but claimed that the other two commissioners had now acted according to their conscience and "rebelled" against Kumar’s decisions.

"This is an example of rising against your (Modi's) decision," he said.

Shivakumar said Karnataka has a population of around seven crore and 5.54 crore registered voters, but alleged that the draft electoral rolls published after the SIR contained 4.46 crore names.

He said 30-40 lakh people had been issued notices over discrepancies in the rolls.

The EC's SIR data showed that 1.08 crore voters in Karnataka had been categorised under Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others, while notices over discrepancies had been issued to 43.81 lakh voters among the 4.46 crore names in the draft rolls.

"The right to vote is the right of every individual. Voting is the biggest opportunity given by our Constitution through the democratic system. We will not allow this right to be taken away," he said.

"We are fighting for a strong electoral system. The anti-SIR movement will be taken to every village," he added.

The protest came in the wake of an Indian Express investigation report that Sandhu and Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge.

According to the report, the objections related to issues including changes to statutory voter registration Form 6, voter registration and deletion, and the centralisation of control over the electoral roll database.

The Election Commission, however, has maintained that its decisions, including those related to the SIR exercise, had the approval of all three commissioners and that differing views and observations were part of the deliberative process within the institution.

Siddaramaiah demanded the immediate removal of Kumar and registration of a criminal case against him, alleging that the EC was not functioning independently and impartially.

"If the Election Commission does not function independently, democracy itself cannot survive. This is a question of the survival of democracy," he said.

Siddaramaiah said President Murmu, as the custodian of the Constitution, should intervene if it was established that members of the EC had acted in violation of constitutional provisions.

"The Election Commission is not an institution that should be loyal to any government or political party. It should be loyal only to the Constitution given by Babasaheb B R Ambedkar," he said.

He added that Kumar should not continue in office if the objections raised by the two commissioners were found to be true.

Siddaramaiah alleged that Modi had come to power through "vote theft" and said the PM had no moral right to remain in office.

Hariprasad, too demanded Kumar’s removal, alleging that the functioning of the EC was undermining democracy and that eligible voters were being deleted from electoral rolls.

He alleged that large numbers of voters had been excluded from electoral rolls in several states, including Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and Maharashtra, and claimed that over 1.07 crore voters had been removed from the rolls in Karnataka.

"The Election Commission was created to ensure a stable democracy. If eligible voters are removed from electoral rolls, democracy and the Constitution will be undermined," he said, adding that the Congress would continue the agitation at the district level from Monday.