Karnataka Electoral Officer Withholds Data on Suspected Foreign Voters in SIR Drive

Nearly a month into the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls across Karnataka, Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar has not publicly disclosed the number of "suspected foreign nationals" identified during enumeration, despite the Election Commission of India making their identification a key objective of the drive.

State-wide SIR data recorded 24,305 voters under the "others" category as of 6 p.m. on Monday. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) explained that electors whose citizenship or eligibility is considered doubtful are currently being entered under the "refused to sign" option in the BLO application, which reflects to the public as "others".

According to BLOs, the mobile application provides only five designated categories after three residential visits: already enrolled (duplicate), death, permanently shifted, untraceable/absent, and refused to sign. The application features no separate category for "others" or for suspected foreign nationals.

Explaining what prompts workers to flag an elector, a BLO stated that a person may appear underage despite holding a voter ID, or may fail to provide satisfactory details about their locality. Based on such signs, workers collect the enumeration form but classify the voter under "refused to sign". This category also includes individuals who refuse to sign because they hold or plan to obtain citizenship elsewhere.

CEO V. Anbu Kumar stated that the "others" category solely represents electors who declined to sign the enumeration form, regardless of the reason. He maintained that no separate public category exists for suspected foreign nationals.

However, officials have not explained how voters with doubtful eligibility will eventually be separated from those who simply declined to sign. Authorities have also not clarified why such cases are not categorized under existing options such as "permanently shifted" or "already enrolled" where applicable.

Official SIR notifications require Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) to scrutinize incoming enumeration forms to identify cases with suspected eligibility before the publication of the draft electoral roll. State SIR guidelines mandate that EROs conduct suo motu inquiries and issue notices in doubtful cases, with verified foreign national cases referred to authorities under the Citizenship Act, 1955.