BENGALURU: Actor Prakash Raj has claimed that his name has been deleted from the voter list in Bengaluru following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and took a swipe at the process in a video posted on X.Calling it a “nice joke”, Raj said he was among the 65 lakh voters whose names were allegedly removed, despite being born, educated and having worked in the constituency and even contesting a Lok Sabha election from there.In a video shared on social media, Raj said he was among those voters whose names had allegedly been removed from electoral rolls in Karnataka during the revision exercise.He questioned how his name could have been deleted despite his long association with the constituency.“I want to share a joke with you, I’m one of the 65 lakh voters whose vote right has been deleted from the Bengaluru constituency after sir, nice joke na.”Raj said he was born and had lived in the constituency and had also pursued his education and theatre there. He further pointed out that he had contested the Lok Sabha election from the constituency.“I was born and raised in this constituency, where I also went to college and did theatre. For your kind information, I was even an MP candidate for this constituency.”He said he would find out the procedure involved in getting his name restored and was ready to provide the documents required for the process.“Well the joke is nice, game on, let me see what is the process I’ve to go through What all papers I need to show to get my voter id,” Raj said.He then turned his criticism towards those in power, arguing that while political power could allegedly be used to deny some citizens their voting rights, it could not prevent voters from exercising their broader democratic power.“But one little word, you can use your power to deny few of the citizens the right to vote who may not elect you but can you stop us from our power to bringing you down.”In the accompanying caption, Raj similarly said that those in power may choose to deny voting rights to some citizens who may not vote for them, but questioned whether they could prevent people from eventually removing them from power.The actor’s remarks come amid the ongoing debate over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Karnataka and allegations surrounding the deletion of voters’ names.
