Karnataka launches door to door voter roll revision to map 46.53 lakh unmapped voters

The Election Commission is launching a month-long Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across Bengaluru and the rest of Karnataka starting Tuesday, deploying 59,050 booth-level officers (BLOs) for house-to-house visits. The drive aims to map over 46.53 lakh currently unmapped voters in the state before the publication of the final electoral rolls on October 7.

Chief Electoral Officer V Anbu Kumar announced on Monday that the house-to-house visits will run until July 29. During this phase, BLOs will distribute enumeration forms to residents. Kumar clarified that the Election Commission will not seek any documents from citizens during this current phase, and residents only need to fill and submit the forms. If family members are absent, an adult member can sign the form on their behalf.

Following the door-to-door survey, draft electoral rolls will be released on August 5. Citizens can file claims and objections until September 9. Once notices are issued to specific individuals, the claims and objections must be resolved by October 3, leading up to the final publication on October 7. Currently, the Election Commission has successfully mapped 91.61 percent (5.07 crore) of the state's 5.54 crore voters.

The launch of the revision comes amid strong concerns raised by the ruling Congress party. On Monday, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge criticized the poll panel for failing to respond to petitions seeking clarification on logical discrepancies and criteria for voter exemptions. Kharge stated that a similar exercise in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal had robbed the poor of their rights.

Additionally, Karnataka Industries Minister M B Patil alleged that the BJP was attempting to use the SIR to remove Congress voters by targeting 97 Assembly segments. Meanwhile, MLC Ramesh Babu wrote to the Chief Electoral Officer, flagging conflicting details of BLOs and BLO supervisors published by the election office, demanding the postponement of the process until accurate information is published.

In response to the revision, the Congress party established SIR Monitoring Committees at the state, division, and district levels in late May to monitor the booth-level exercise. The BJP has also prepared by conducting multiple workshops for its party workers.