Civil society groups question scale of Karnataka electoral-roll deletions

Two civil society organisations have questioned the scale of voter deletions in Karnataka following a Special Intensive Revision of the State’s electoral rolls. The Anti-SIR Alliance and the Citizens’ Vote Protection Committee said their report identified discrepancies in official data and ground-level verification. The report is based on electoral-roll data, a survey of Booth Level Officers and field checks at 100 polling booths across 25 districts.

It says Karnataka’s electorate fell from 5,52,49,719 voters in 2025 to 4,44,53,380 in the draft roll, a reduction of about 19.5%. According to the organisations, 65,45,679 voters were classified as shifted, 16,39,864 as dead, 15,17,042 as absent, 7,09,870 as duplicate and 3,83,884 under other categories. They said the shifted classification required particular scrutiny because people who move for work or change rented accommodation may need an opportunity to transfer their registration rather than be removed.

The Citizens’ Vote Protection Committee said its house-to-house checks found cases in which people living at their registered addresses were allegedly marked shifted or absent. It also claimed that some living voters were recorded as dead and that some eligible voters did not receive enumeration forms. The report separately highlighted Bengaluru, where it says the electorate fell from 1,11,16,111 to 48,48,574 in the draft roll.

The organisations sought an official explanation, particularly in view of the city’s population growth and inward migration. They also raised concerns about possible effects on migrant workers, women, nomadic communities, Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims and residents of informal settlements. The report said 23% of surveyed BLOs received no training, while 38% of those trained received less than a day’s instruction.

More than 80% reportedly said they could not manage the workload. The material refers to five BLO deaths but says their circumstances and causes require independent verification. The organisations said 43 lakh voters received notices and that 7,70,988 Form 6 applications had been submitted by September 24.

They acknowledged that their survey covered only a small proportion of polling booths and called for an independent assessment of possible wrongful exclusions.