Bengaluru, Feb 1 : The Congress government in Karnataka decided during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday to amend the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Registration (Karnataka) (Amendment) Rules, 2024 and facilitate online registration of marriages in the state.

The move is likely to stir controversy in the state as Hindu organisations had earlier objected to the proposal, claiming that it will encourage 'Love-Jihad' in the state.

The Cabinet led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah gave its consent for the amendment of the law in this regard, as stated by Law Minister H.K. Patil after the meeting.

Action will be taken as per the announcement of Siddaramaiah made in this regard during the budget presentation last year.

Siddaramaiah had made an announcement in July last year on couples entering into wedlock.

'You need not visit the sub-registrar's office to get the registration of your marriage done. A provision for online registration of marriages will be made,' he had said.

He also proposed to enable couples to submit applications to register their marriages in gram panchayats.

The government has also enabled registration of marriages through the Kaveri 2.0 software application. The marriages can also be registered at the Bapu Seva centres and Grama One centres.

'Until now, the marriage registrations were done at only sub-registrar' offices. To bring flexibility in the process the provision of online submission of applications will be provided,' Siddaramaiah had announced.

However, Hindu organisations had objected to the proposal of the Congress government. Sri Ram Sena founder Pramod Muthalik had stated that the number of love-jihad cases will rise following the government's decision.

Suryanarayan, the Co-convenor of All India Bajrang Dal, said the government should not implement this proposal and continue the earlier method of marriage registration.

/IANS