Karnataka’s final electoral roll, published on Tuesday, October 27, has recorded a decline of more than 99.32 lakh voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), bringing the state’s electorate down from 5.54 crore to 4.55 crore.
According to the final figures, Karnataka now has 4,55,00,011 registered voters, compared with 5,54,32,314 before the revision. The exercise was conducted to verify voter details and remove ineligible entries from the electoral rolls.
The final list has added around 8.64 lakh voters compared with the draft roll published in August, which contained approximately 4.46 crore names. However, the electorate remains nearly one crore smaller than it was before the revision.
Over 80 Lakh Names Linked to Shifting or Missing Voters
During the draft stage, more than 1.07 crore names were removed from the electoral rolls. The largest category comprised 80.62 lakh voters who had either shifted residence or could not be found at their registered addresses during verification.
Another 16.39 lakh names were removed because the voters were recorded as deceased, while more than seven lakh entries were identified as duplicates. Around 3.83 lakh names were placed under an “Others” category.
The Election Commission has not clearly explained what the “Others” category includes, apart from indicating that it covers people who refused to sign enumeration forms.
Voters whose names were removed because they had shifted or could not be located were not necessarily ineligible to vote. They would need to apply for inclusion through Form 6 to have their names restored.
Women Outnumber Men on Final Roll
The final electoral roll includes approximately 2.29 crore women voters and more than 2.25 crore men. It also records 2,841 third gender voters.
More than 6.83 lakh voters are aged between 18 and 19, while over 3.92 lakh are above the age of 85. Voters aged between 30 and 39 form the largest age group, accounting for approximately 1.02 crore people.
During the claims and objections period, which began with the publication of the draft roll on August 24, authorities issued 43.82 lakh notices over discrepancies in voter details. Of these, around 43.2 lakh names were retained in the final list, while 61,867 were excluded following the notices process.
Between June 16 and September 23, around 7.87 lakh people applied for inclusion through Form 6. The applications included both new voters and those seeking to restore their names to the rolls. Another 4,530 non-resident Indians applied through Form 6A.
The Election Commission also received 58,475 objections seeking deletion of existing entries and around 10.99 lakh applications for changes to voter details.
Questions Over Deletion Process
The revision began with door to door verification by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), who were tasked with checking voter information and identifying entries requiring correction or removal. The exercise was launched in June, with the enumeration phase beginning on June 30.
The scale of the deletions has raised questions about how voters who were absent or had shifted residence were classified and whether eligible citizens were inadvertently excluded.
A report by The Hindu also found that at least 61,059 Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names were filed by election officials themselves without stating reasons for the proposed deletions, which are required under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers reportedly said the system had automatically generated the forms with their digital signatures when voters could not be reached during hearings. The report said this raised concerns about election officials being involved in both raising objections and deciding whether names should remain on the rolls.
The Chief Electoral Officer’s office has said an enrolment drive will be conducted after the SIR to add eligible voters whose names were removed. Applications for inclusion submitted after September 23 will be considered for supplementary electoral rolls published quarterly.
