Karnataka SIR: Final roll today amid row over exclusion of 10.8mn from draft list

The final electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Karnataka is scheduled to be published on Tuesday. It will determine how many of the over 10 million excluded from the draft list have been restored and how far the state’s electorate has changed after months of verification and hearings.

The state had 55.4 million electors when the exercise began. The draft roll published on August 24 had 44.6 million, a reduction of more than 10.8 million.

The revision, which began on June 30, involved house-to-house verification, checks against older electoral records and hearings for voters whose entries could not be verified. The process triggered a row over bulk applications seeking deletion of names and alleged errors in voter records.

The removal of more than 10.8 million electors has been the central concern since the draft roll was published. Of them, 8.06 million were classified under the broad category of shifted or not found at their registered addresses. Another 1.63 million were marked as deceased, over 700,000 as duplicate entries, and 383,000 under other categories.

Election officials maintained that exclusion from the draft did not necessarily mean permanent deletion. Voters could seek inclusion or corrections during the claims and objections period. The process was intended to establish whether entries were valid and whether voters could be mapped to previous electoral records.

Concerns over exclusions

Opposition and civil society groups raised concerns over the large number of exclusions of eligible voters who might have been away from home, temporarily shifted, or unable to complete the verification requirements.

The claims and objections process allowed voters to apply for inclusion, challenge an entry or correct existing details.

By October 22, 1.04 million Form 6 applications were filed seeking inclusion, 2,28,917 Form 7 applications seeking deletion or raising objections to entries. As many as 1.31 million Form 8 applications were filed for corrections and changes.

The claims and objections deadline ended on September 23. But hearings and the disposal of cases involving notices continued beyond that date.

Bulk deletion applications

Form 7 became the most contentious part of the SIR after the number of applications rose sharply in the final weeks of the process.

As many as 58,475 Form 7 applications were received by September 23. By October 22, they increased to 2,28,917, meaning over 170,000 applications were received after the claims and objections deadline.

The ruling Congress accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers of filing bulk applications to remove eligible voters, particularly in areas with large Muslim populations. The BJP denied the allegations, arguing that its workers were exercising their right to identify voters they believed should not remain on the roll.

The BJP accused the Congress of discrediting an exercise intended to remove duplicate, deceased and otherwise ineligible entries.

The dispute intensified as police complaints were filed against people accused of submitting false Form 7 applications. The BJP argued that legitimate electoral objections should not be criminalised. The Congress demanded action against those allegedly seeking to delete eligible voters.

The Election Commission of India has maintained that the revision was intended to improve the accuracy of the electoral roll and that deletions had to follow the prescribed procedure.

A part of the exercise involved 4.38 million notices to voters whose records required further verification to give them an opportunity to establish their eligibility rather than removing their names automatically. These included cases involving missing mapping and logical discrepancies.

The Chief Electoral Officer’s office said Electoral Registration Officers completed hearings in these cases before the final roll.

The revision brought attention to inconsistencies between older electoral records and current documents. Padma Shri awardee Harekala Hajabba received a notice after differences emerged between the way his name appeared in older electoral records and his current documents. Officials withdrew the notice after verification.

Other complaints involved voters allegedly categorised as deceased or shifted despite being alive and continuing to reside at their registered addresses. Election officials investigated such complaints and corrected entries where errors were established.

The draft roll also showed a change in the gender composition of the electorate. By October 16, the roll had about 22.8 million women voters and 22.5 million men. There were around 370,000 more women than men.