Published Oct 27, 2026 | 4:50 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 27, 2026 | 5:15 PM
Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls
Nearly one crore voters have vanished from Karnataka’s electoral rolls, shrinking the state’s voter list by 18 per cent after the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
According to the final electoral rolls published on Tuesday, October 27, as many as 99.32 lakh voters have been deleted from the state’s voter list, reducing the total electorate from 5.54 crore before the exercise to around 4.55 crore.
The draft rolls, published on August 24, had reduced the electorate to 4.46 crore voters after striking off 1.08 crore names under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, and Others categories. Of these, 8.19 lakh voters have been restored in the final electoral rolls.
The final roll comprises more than 2.25 crore male voters, 2.29 crore female voters and 2,841 third-gender voters. It includes over 6.83 lakh first-time voters and more than 3.92 lakh voters above the age of 85.
The names of deleted voters who have applied for inclusion within the claims and objections period will reflect in the final electoral rolls. Meanwhile, the applications filed after the September 23 deadline are expected to figure in the supplementary rolls to be published later.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Karnataka Chief Election Officer V. Anbukkumar said the final roll reflected applications received, notices issued and hearings completed during the revision exercise.
The CEO’s office reported issuing 43.82 lakh notices to electors under the no-mapping and anomaly categories. The election authorities received 26.23 lakh applications across Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8 during the specified period. Of these, approximately 20.64 lakh were accepted, three lakh rejected, and 2.55 lakh remained pending.
Meanwhile, The Hindu reported that election officials had filed 61,059 Form 7 applications seeking voter deletions without specifying reasons.
Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), listed as objectors in the applications said the forms had been generated automatically with their digital signatures when voters could not be reached during SIR hearings.
CEO Anbukkumar also stated that the EROs and AEROs generated the forms following hearings, denying allegations of bulk generation of Form 7 applications.
Reacting to the massive deletion of voters, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar stressed that no eligible voter should be excluded from the democratic process and urged people to check the final list and verify their names.
Speaking to reporters, Shivakumar said the state government would examine possible action over the alleged misuse of Form 7 applications.
“Whatever illegal activities have been carried out by opposition parties through Form 7 applications have to be made very clear,” he said, adding that the government would examine the available options.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mansoor Khan also urged people to ensure that their names have appeared in the final list.
“SIR has raised serious concerns about the exclusion of minorities, the poor and marginalised communities. I urge voters to check the final roll and apply through Form 6 if their names are missing,” he said in a post on X.
(Edited by Fayisa CA)
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