India

Bengaluru Accounts for Nearly Half of 61,867 Voter Exclusions in Karnataka

By Arun Dev

The Election Commission released data showing that Bengaluru accounted for almost half of the 61,867 electors declared ineligible by electoral officers after notices issued in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise were resolved through hearings. The city contributed 30,924 exclusions. Among Bengaluru constituencies, Bommanahalli recorded the highest number of exclusions with 4,136, followed by KR Pura with 3,081 and Mahadevapura with 2,870. These figures result from the notice and hearing process after the draft electoral list was published in August. The final roll, published on Tuesday, removed 1,88,324 voters. Across Karnataka, 43,82,824 notices were issued and hearings held in all cases, according to the Chief Electoral Officer’s final report. Of those, 43,20,957 electors were retained in the final roll after verification, while 61,867 were declared ineligible and removed through Form 7s generated by electoral officers. The exclusions represent about 1.4% of those who went through the notice process, but rates varied by constituency: Bommanahalli had a 4% exclusion rate (4,136 of 1,02,361 notices), KR Pura had 1.7% (3,081 of 1,76,909), and Mahadevapura also had 1.7% (2,870 of 1,71,623).