India

Karnataka Removes 9.98 Million Names From Final Electoral Roll After SIR Revision

By Nishant Ranjan, Arun Dev

Karnataka published its final electoral roll on Tuesday, showing a reduction of 9,976,625 names from the pre‑SIR list. The roll now lists 45,455,689 general electors, down from 55,432,314 on June 16 when the special intensive revision (SIR) began. Including 44,322 service electors, the statewide total is 45,500,011. The state’s deletion of 18 % of the pre‑SIR roll is the highest among major states.

Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbukkumar said that after verifying and disposing of claims, objections, and notices, 1,008,038 electors were added, 188,324 were deleted, and 896,519 were modified. Notices were issued to about 43.8 lakh electors and hearings conducted. Electoral registration officers and assistant officers found certain individuals ineligible; after inquiry and reasoned orders, 61,960 names were earmarked for deletion.

Of the 188,324 deletions, 1,091 were deceased electors, 184 were absent electors, 762 were duplicate or already enrolled, and 124,327 were due to residence shifts, which automatically generated Form 7.

The final roll shows a slight increase in voters compared to the draft, a trend seen in most states and union territories except West Bengal and Goa.

District‑wise analysis shows Bengaluru accounted for the largest share of deletions. Four urban districts—Bangalore Urban, BBMP (South), BBMP (North) and BBMP (Central)—had 4.5 million deletions, 45 % of the state’s total, despite representing only 19 % of the pre‑SIR electorate. Their share in the final roll fell to 13 %. The ratio of electors to projected population in the three BBMP districts (North, Central, South) was 53.4 %, 51.1 % and 45.8 % respectively, the lowest in the state compared to 66.1 % statewide.

In ten districts, deletions were below 10 %; the lowest was 4.7 % in Udupi, a coastal district. Dakshina Kannada, with the highest Muslim population share, had the second lowest deletion rate at 6.9 %.

Gender and age breakdowns show 22,583,107 males, 22,914,063 females and 2,841 others in the final roll. The largest age group is 30‑39 years with 10.26 million electors.

Between June 16 and October 26, authorities received 1,062,336 Form 6 applications, 4,872 Form 6A applications, 229,235 Form 7 applications and about 1.327 million Form 8 applications, totaling roughly 2.6 million. About 303,000 applications were rejected, 2 million accepted and 255,000 pending. The CEO clarified that bulk generation of Form 7 was not permitted; each form must be issued by the competent officer after inquiry and a speaking order.