Bengaluru: In a major decision, the Congress high command on Tuesday ordered for re-enumeration of castes as part of the caste census carried out almost a decade ago in Karnataka.
The decision came after several communities, particularly politically important Lingayats and Vokkaligas, expressed apprehensions that the census carried out in 2016 did not cover all families besides undercounting their population.
"The Congress party is committed to accepting the caste census report. But since the census was carried out 10 years ago, some sections of people have raised some apprehensions. So the high command has asked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to carry out re-enumeration in a stipulated time," K C Venugopal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary In-charge of Karnataka, told reporters in Delhi.
Siddaramaiah will decide on the date of re-enumeration in a special cabinet meeting convened on June 12, Venugopal said. The decision was taken at a meeting by AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi with Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar in Delhi to discuss caste census and the stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium which claimed 11 lives.
With this, the data of the census carried out in 2016 will be rendered redundant. The census report which was tabled before the Karnataka Cabinet on April 11 has not been accepted yet owing to the opposition by Lingayats and Vokkaligas. As per the leaked census data, Lingayats number 66.35 lakh (11.09%) and Vokkaligas 61.5 lakh (10.3%) as against the general belief of them being 17% and 15% to the state's population.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Siddaramaiah said that the caste census report which has been submitted to the Government will be in-principally accepted at the next cabinet meeting. But enumeration of castes will be carried out once again owing to the opposition by some quarters. "We will appoint a one-man commission for the purpose," he added.
