The tour began with Raj laying floral tributes to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar before meeting local residents, many of whom said their names had been placed in the Absentee, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) category despite having lived in the area for years.
Raj told reporters that, according to his information, 521,950 voters in Kalaburagi district have been moved to the ASDDO list, raising doubts about whether the existing mechanism will allow them to prove eligibility before the SIR deadline.
He noted that only about 25,000 people in the district have so far responded by submitting Form 6 – the form intended for inclusion of eligible voters – and questioned what will happen to the remaining voters who have not been able to meet the deadline.
Raj argued that requiring existing voters to re‑register through Form 6 effectively treats them as new applicants, exposing them to legal risk if any declaration on the form is later found to be inaccurate, a risk he said is especially acute for residents of slums, nomadic settlements and other marginalised groups who struggle to produce required documents.
Highlighting a perceived double standard, Raj said senior politicians and retired judges whose details are flagged as erroneous receive personal visits from election officials to correct the record, whereas ordinary residents are threatened with wholesale deletion if paperwork is not filed on time.
He disclosed that his own name appears on the ASDDO list but declined to file Form 6, insisting that as an established voter he should not be treated as a new applicant, and used his case to underscore the broader injustice faced by poorer citizens.
Raj said the tour will continue across Karnataka, culminating in a round‑table conference in Bengaluru on September 30 where the findings and documents collected will be submitted to the Karnataka chief minister, followed by a press conference in Delhi on October 1 to demand a rollback of the SIR process.