Karnataka: MoS Karandlaje urges Amit Shah to halt PRC rollout, alleges risk of aiding illegal immigrants

Union Minister of State for Labour & MSME Shobha Karandlaje on Friday accused the state government of using its permanent residence certificates (PRC) to regularise illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and sought home minister Amit Shah's intervention to halt its issuance.

The Bengaluru North MP also alleged that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were moving from Bihar and West Bengal to Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka. She claimed the Congress government was encouraging booth-level officers (BLOs) to undertake mass enumeration under the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls while simultaneously pursuing the PRC process.

"Instead of strengthening voter verification, the government is pursuing appeasement politics at the cost of national security and the integrity of the electoral system," Karandlaje told reporters. She said the move undermined the constitutional principle of "One Nation, One Citizenship."


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The minister released a letter addressed to Shah, urging the union home ministry to examine the constitutional validity of the PRC notification and direct the Karnataka government to keep its implementation in abeyance. She also sought a detailed report from the state on the statutory authority under which the notification was issued.

Karandlaje urged the Centre to take "such further action as may be necessary to safeguard the constitutional framework, national security and the principle of equality guaranteed under the Constitution of India."

In the letter, she argued that the state government, by creating a separate category of "permanent residents", was conferring a legal status that had no constitutional sanction.

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Karandlaje said individuals who had entered India illegally or were residing unlawfully in Karnataka could obtain a PRC by producing local documents. Once issued, such certificates could be used to access government benefits and other entitlements, potentially undermining the Centre's efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants, she said.