Congress raises alarm over Karnataka SIR as 84 lakh voters face removal in draft roll

“Ensure that no elector is deleted merely on the basis of a single house visit or incomplete verification. Provide adequate notice and reasonable opportunity to every affected elector before any deletion is finalised,” the petition stated.

Data from the CEO’s office shows that out of 5.54 crore voters mapped prior to the SIR drive on June 30, a total of 84.31 lakh have been classified under the ASDDO category (absent, shifted, dead, duplicate, and other) during door-to-door visits by booth-level officers (BLOs).

The breakdown of the flagged electors includes:
Permanently shifted: 51.74 lakh
Dead: 14.99 lakh
Absent: 11.61 lakh
Already enrolled/duplicate: 5.62 lakh
Other: Around 33,000
The four electoral districts comprising Bengaluru account for more than half of the total ASDDO list statewide.

Poll body defends process

Responding to the concerns raised by the Congress, CEO V Anbukumar maintained that the compilation strictly follows legal protocols and is supported by complete documentation.

“In all death cases, we have either a death certificate or a spot mahazar signed by a minimum of one booth-level agent (BLA). Similarly, we conduct a spot mahazar for every ASDDO case,” Anbukumar said, adding that even where voters refused to sign enumeration forms, mahazar documents were executed by BLAs or BLO supervisors.

He said the ASDDO lists have been shared transparently with BLAs across all political parties. “Many individuals are on the list simply because they were not present at the address where their voter cards were issued,” Anbukumar explained, assuring that voters omitted from the draft roll can apply for re-inclusion by filing Form 6.

Though July 29 was originally fixed as the deadline for door-to-door form distribution and collection, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has extended the deadline to August 8 following slow progress in Bengaluru districts.

As of Wednesday, enumeration forms have been distributed to 100 per cent of the 5.54 crore mapped voters. Around 4.26 crore forms have been filled and digitised, with 43.24 lakh forms currently pending digitisation before the draft roll is released on August 17 to kick off the claims and objections phase.