Karnataka final roll sees 18% dip after SIR, slide second steepest

Karnataka’s final electoral roll contains 4,55,00,011 voters, after more than 99.32 lakh names were removed. The earlier roll had 5,54,32,314 voters. This means the electorate fell by 17.92%, making Karnataka’s decline the second highest among the 24 States and Union Territories whose final rolls had been published.

The change came through the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR. The Election Commission checked existing entries and classified many names as absent, shifted, deceased, or duplicates. The draft roll published on August 24 contained 4,46,80,151 electors, while other entries were placed in these four categories. Later checks, notices, and claims changed the final count.

Karnataka’s decrease was much sharper than the overall contraction of nearly 10% across the 24 regions. Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest fall, at 22%. The SIR is still continuing in eight other states, so the national picture may change when their final rolls are published.

A Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, is a focused exercise to examine and update an electoral roll. It matters because election authorities need a current list of eligible voters. Such a review can identify people who have died, moved, appear more than once, or otherwise no longer qualify, while allowing eligible people to be added.

In Karnataka, enumeration forms were generated for all 5,54,32,314 electors listed on June 16. The draft roll later showed 4,46,80,151 electors. Other entries were classified as absent, shifted, deceased, or duplicate. Notices were then generated for 43,82,824 electors, and a claims-and-objections period followed.

The final roll included 43,20,957 people covered by notices and added 10.08 lakh new electors. The process also found 61,867 people ineligible. Karnataka’s CEO V Anbukkumar said the revision was transparent and conducted according to law. The SIR remains ongoing in eight other states.

Bengaluru Urban experienced a much steeper reduction than Karnataka overall. Its electoral roll fell from 1.03 crore electors to 59.6 lakh, a decrease of more than 40%. Across Karnataka, the roll declined by 17.92%, from 5,54,32,314 to 4,55,00,011 voters.

The article links both changes to the Special Intensive Revision. During the exercise, entries were examined and some were classified as absent, shifted, deceased, or duplicate. However, the article does not provide a Bengaluru-specific breakdown of these categories. It also does not identify one particular cause for the city’s sharper fall.

Therefore, the confirmed explanation is that the revision produced a much larger reduction in Bengaluru Urban than in the state as a whole, but the precise local reasons remain unstated. The figures show where the impact was concentrated. Further official category-level data would be needed to explain the difference without speculation.

The four categories describe different problems found while checking an electoral roll. “Absent” generally means the person could not be found or verified at the listed address. “Shifted” means the person appears to have moved elsewhere. “Deceased” means the voter has died. “Duplicate” means the same person appears more than once.

The article lists these categories after Karnataka’s draft roll was published. They covered 19,00,926 absent entries, 65,45,679 shifted entries, 16,39,864 deceased entries, and 7,09,870 duplicate entries. These records were separate from the 4,46,80,151 electors included in the draft roll.

Removing or correcting such records helps make the roll reflect current voters and addresses. However, the article provides the category names and counts, not formal definitions of the administrative tests used for each label. The plain-language meanings above are standard explanations of electoral-roll cleaning. Individual cases could still be reviewed through notices, claims, and objections before final publication.

The large deletion figure and the foreigner figure measure different things. Karnataka removed more than 99.32 lakh names from its previous roll, but the article says fewer than 1,000 foreigners were detected. Most deleted records therefore belonged to other categories identified during roll cleaning, not to foreigners.

The draft data shows the mechanism. Entries were listed as absent, shifted, deceased, or duplicate: 19,00,926, 65,45,679, 16,39,864, and 7,09,870 respectively. Together, these categories account for the large group outside the draft roll. Notices and later claims also changed which names entered the final list.

State CEO V Anbukkumar said foreigners had been detected, but their number was definitely below 1,000. Sources said most were from Nepal, with a handful from the United States, Canada, and Norway, including people who had relinquished Indian citizenship. The article does not say that foreigners explain the overall deletion total.

The draft roll was not the final list. It created a stage for checking disputed or uncertain entries and for allowing eligible people to seek inclusion. This matters because removals and additions can both be corrected before the electoral roll is finalized.

In Karnataka, notices were generated for 43,82,824 electors among those in the draft process. After responses and review, 43,20,957 were included in the final roll, while 61,867 were found ineligible. During the claims-and-objections period, officials also added 10.08 lakh new electors.

These steps helped produce the final total of 4,55,00,011 voters. The numbers show that the final roll was not simply the draft roll with names deleted. It reflected both decisions on previously listed electors and new registrations. The article presents this as part of the revision process, which State CEO V Anbukkumar described as transparent and according to law.

An accurate electoral roll is essential because it identifies who can participate in an election. It should include eligible voters and avoid outdated, repeated, or otherwise ineligible entries. The Karnataka revision shows why this matters: officials identified absent, shifted, deceased, and duplicate records, while also adding 10.08 lakh new electors.

The article does not state India’s eligibility rule. Under Article 326 of the Constitution and election law, a registered voter must be an Indian citizen, be at least 18 years old, and not be legally disqualified. Registration also generally depends on being ordinarily resident in the relevant constituency. These are established legal requirements beyond the article’s specific figures.

Karnataka’s final roll had 4,55,00,011 voters after the review. Officials found 61,867 people ineligible among those receiving notices, while fewer than 1,000 foreigners were identified. The SIR continues in eight other states, where similar checks may affect their final rolls.