'Apply through Form 6, name will be added': Karnataka CEO assures voters after 1 crore deleted in final electoral roll

An electoral roll is the official list of people registered to vote in a particular area. It matters because election officials use this list to confirm who is enrolled before allowing a person to cast a ballot. Without a name on the roll, a person’s voting status cannot be confirmed through the list.

Karnataka’s final roll contains 4,55,00,011 voters. People whose names were missing were told to apply through Form 6. The application allows election authorities to examine the person’s details and decide whether to include the name.

The Chief Electoral Officer, V Anbukumar, assured voters that names would be added after due verification. Voters can check their enrolment through the Election Commission’s electoral search portal or the constituency-wise rolls. If the portal shows “No Result Found,” the article advises checking the official roll or contacting election authorities before assuming deletion.

Karnataka’s final electoral roll contains 4,55,00,011 voters. This is the official electorate published after the Special Intensive Revision. The figure is striking because it is substantially lower than the number recorded before the revision.

Before the process began, Karnataka had 5,54,32,314 registered voters. The final total is nearly 99.32 lakh lower. The draft roll had removed more than 1.07 crore names, but the final list added 8.64 lakh voters back to that draft figure.

The final electorate includes more than 2.25 crore men, 2.29 crore women and 2,841 third-gender voters. It also includes over 6.83 lakh voters aged 18 and 19. People who believe their names are missing can check the official rolls and apply through Form 6 for inclusion after verification.

The Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, was the process through which Karnataka reviewed its electoral rolls before publishing the final list. The article describes enumeration and the checking of voter records, but does not provide a fuller formal definition of the exercise. Its purpose in this report was to update the list and identify records needing removal or verification.

The draft roll removed 80.62 lakh names because voters had shifted residence or could not be found during enumeration. Another 16.39 lakh entries were marked as deceased. More than seven lakh were identified as duplicates, while 3.83 lakh fell under “Others.”

Together, these categories explain why the draft roll excluded more than 1.07 crore names. The final roll later added 8.64 lakh voters to the draft total. People removed as shifted or untraceable could seek inclusion by submitting Form 6 applications.

A voter should not assume deletion merely because an online search fails. The article advises checking the official constituency-wise electoral roll or contacting election authorities. If the name is genuinely missing, the person should apply through Form 6.

Form 6 is the application used to seek inclusion in the electoral roll. This applied especially to people whose names were removed as shifted or untraceable, and it also covered new voters. Election authorities received 7,87,534 applications, including applications from new voters.

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar assured applicants that their names would be added after due verification. The final roll already added 8.64 lakh voters to the draft roll. People can search using their EPIC number, select Karnataka, complete the captcha and check the result before applying or contacting officials.

A person’s name needs to be on the electoral roll for election officials to confirm that person’s registration. If the name is absent on election day, the person’s eligibility cannot be established through the published list. In practical terms, the person may be unable to vote in that election until the record is corrected.

The article gives voters a way to address the problem before polling. They can search by EPIC on the Election Commission’s portal, compare the result with the official electoral roll and contact election authorities if needed. A Form 6 application can then request inclusion.

V Anbukumar said names would definitely be added after due verification. The appeal is particularly important for people removed as shifted or untraceable and for citizens who have recently turned 18. Registration should therefore be checked before election day, not left until voting begins.

The deleted-name categories show that electoral authorities were sorting records according to the problems found during revision. They distinguished voters who had shifted residence or could not be located from those recorded as dead, duplicated or belonging to “Others.” This gives the roll-maintenance process specific reasons for each deletion category.

The largest category was shifted or untraceable, with 80.62 lakh names removed from the draft roll. Another 16.39 lakh entries were recorded as dead. More than seven lakh were duplicates, and 3.83 lakh fell under “Others.” These figures show the scale of the review.

The categories also matter because an incorrect removal can affect a genuine voter. People classified as shifted or untraceable had to submit Form 6 to seek inclusion. Authorities received 7,87,534 applications, and the final roll added 8.64 lakh voters to the draft total.

Voter registration supports representative democracy by putting eligible citizens on the official list used for elections. When people are registered, their participation can be counted through the electoral process. A complete and accurate roll helps ensure that people who are eligible are not left out of choosing representatives.

The article highlights citizens who have completed 18 years of age. V Anbukumar urged them to apply immediately and said the state had conducted special drives, awareness campaigns and publicity campaigns. The final roll includes more than 6.83 lakh voters aged 18 and 19.

The current figures also show why registration and verification matter. Karnataka’s final electorate has 4,55,00,011 voters, after nearly 99.32 lakh fewer names than before the SIR. Newly eligible people and anyone missing from the roll should check their details and use Form 6 where necessary.