Published Jul 14, 2026 | 3:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 14, 2026 | 3:00 PM
Several voters were seen waiting to get their names included in the list.
Synopsis: As the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls continues in Bengaluru, residents in Shivajinagar report mixed experiences, with some alleging missing names, technical glitches and verification delays, while election officials maintain that the process is progressing smoothly. The contrasting accounts highlight uneven implementation of the voter roll revision across the ward.
For the third consecutive day, Aisha Begum, 54, sat outside the Booth office in ward 5 (formerly BBMP Ward 92, Shivajinagar). She looked anxious, like other women around her.
Born and raised in Mohalla Street, Shivajinagar, she said she has voted in the constituency for nearly two decades. Today, neither her name nor those of her adult children, aged 28 and 26, appeared on the electoral rolls.
“I was born here, got married here, and my children were born here. We have always cast our votes in this area,” Begum said. “Now they tell me to check online or upload details. I don’t know how to do it.”
Begum said she possesses Aadhaar and PAN cards, as well as other government-issued identity documents. She claimed that officials insisted on documents such as birth or school certificates. Like dozens of others waiting outside the office, she has been left in the dark without clear guidance on what to do after her name was not on the list.
Her case is one among several grievances raised by residents during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengaluru, which started on 30 June and will go on till 31 July.
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Abdul Samad, a local volunteer assisting residents with voter verification, alleged that technical glitches and administrative confusion have compounded people’s difficulties. According to him, the state’s voter search application – CEO Karnataka – has repeatedly malfunctioned, with its name-search feature failing for days at a time, making it extremely difficult to locate and retrieve voter details.
He also pointed to the recent reorganisation of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) wards. The previous Ward 92 has been divided into multiple wards. The restructuring, Samad alleged, has scattered voter records across different electoral parts, leaving many residents unsure which Booth Level Officer (BLO) or polling station they now belong to.
“The process is expected to be complete within the next 10 days, but people are still unable to verify their details. I work from 10 am until 2 am as the official process isn’t keeping pace,” Samad claimed.
With a total of 31 BLOs assigned to the ward, he further said that several of them have been difficult to contact and are unresponsive to calls.
Fatheema Begum, another worker, echoed similar concerns over the electoral revision process.
“Over the past week, the government has intentionally disabled the ‘search option’ on the portal. The available data only reflects updates from January to March, completely omitting months of recent voter applications,” she said.
She further alleged that the voter search facility was either unavailable or not reflecting recent updates, preventing residents from verifying newly submitted applications.
She also accused the local election staff of failing to conduct mandatory door-to-door verification. Instead, they give out the forms in public, she said.
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Responding to these statements, Chandra Kala, a BLO at Nehrupuram, Shivajinagar, said that the SIR has been going on really well and the public’s response has been good.
“We visit anywhere between 25-50 houses every day, and the Booth Level Agent ensures the coordination,” she said, adding that the Greater Bengaluru Authority could have provided more training to the agents.
“We have to scan and upload each enumeration form, and we get many calls daily, making it hard to pick up each call,” she said.
Not every resident has reported difficulties. Moin Ahmed, who runs a tea shop in the locality, said the process had been smooth in his case.
He said his BLO visited his area. He received the enumeration form and submitted it about a week ago without any problems.
Another resident, Syeda Sabah, said the process was smooth for her and her neighbours, with their verification completed within a few days. However, she said residents of Mackan Road and the surrounding areas faced difficulties, prompting her to step in and help some of them navigate the process.
The contrasting experiences highlight the uneven implementation of the voter verification exercise in Shivajinagar. While some residents report completing the process without difficulty, others continue to wait outside offices seeking clarity over missing names, delayed verification and inaccessible digital systems.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
