Bengaluru: The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, on Tuesday published the final electoral roll of the state with 4,55,00,011 electors following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)-2026 of electoral rolls. It can be noted that Karnataka’s electorate is down from 5,54,32,314 voters before the SIR commenced, as more than 99.32 lakh names have been dropped as part of the SIR exercise.
According to the final electoral roll published, the state has 2,25,40,493 male voters, 2,29,12,355 female voters and 2,841 voters belonging to the third gender. The number of service electors stands at 44,322.
The revision was undertaken in all 224 Assembly constituencies in accordance with the directions of the Election Commission of India, with October 1, 2026, as the qualifying date.
The final roll includes 6,83,364 young electors aged 18-19 years, comprising 3,64,551 males, 3,18,795 females and 18 voters belonging to the third gender. In the 20-29 age group, there are 86,56,838 electors, including 45,08,240 males, 41,47,863 females and 735 voters belonging to the third gender.
The state has 5,65,340 electors with disabilities, comprising 3,26,716 males, 2,38,589 females and 35 voters belonging to the third gender. The number of electors aged 85 years and above is 3,92,134, including 1,62,522 males, 2,29,609 females and three voters belonging to the third gender. There are also 3,252 Non-Resident Indian (NRI) electors, comprising 2,043 males and 1,209 females.
The draft electoral roll was published on August 24 with 4,46,35,975 general electors and 44,176 service electors. Enumeration forms had been generated for 5,54,32,314 electors whose names were on the electoral rolls as of June 16, 2026.
Of these, 4,46,35,975 electors, accounting for 80.52 per cent, submitted their enumeration forms to Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The remaining 1,07,96,339 electors, or 19.48 per cent, whose forms were not submitted, were not included in the draft electoral roll.
The CEO’s office categorised these 1,07,96,339 electors as absent, permanently shifted, deceased or duplicate entries. The figures include 19,00,926 absent electors (3.43 per cent), 65,45,679 permanently shifted electors (11.81 per cent), 16,39,864 deceased electors (2.96 per cent) and 7,09,870 duplicate entries (1.28 per cent).
During the claims and objections process, 43,82,824 notices were generated and delivered, and hearings were held in all 43,82,824 cases. A total of 61,867 electors were marked ineligible for inclusion in the final roll.
The Form-7 data on deletion requests recorded 1,091 cases relating to death, 762 duplicate entries, 1,24,327 cases involving permanent shifting, 184 cases of absenteeism and 61,960 cases under other categories, including ineligible cases identified during hearings.
The SIR was conducted in several phases, including house-to-house verification, digitisation of enumeration forms, publication of the draft electoral roll, and the subsequent processing of claims and objections, hearings and disposal of notices by the EROs.
The house-to-house visits by BLOs were conducted from June 30 to August 17. The period for filing claims and objections ran from August 24 to September 23, while the notice and disposal process continued until October 22. The final electoral roll was published on October 27.
The CEO’s office attributed the successful completion of the exercise to the coordinated efforts of officials and election personnel across the state. The exercise involved district election officers from all 34 election districts, 34 roll observers, chief executive officers of 31 Zilla Panchayats, 224 EROs, 336 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), 3,926 additional AEROs, 6,092 BLO supervisors and 60,923 BLOs deployed at 60,923 polling stations.
The exercise was also supported by volunteers and 1,33,092 booth-level agents representing the seven registered and recognised political parties, including their office-bearers.
Copies of the final electoral rolls have been shared with representatives of political parties, the CEO’s office said.
The office also clarified that the electoral roll would remain open for continuous updation. Applications can be submitted throughout the year for enrolment of names, correction of entries, objections, change of residence, marking electors as Persons with Disabilities and replacement of Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) without corrections.
Persons aggrieved by an ERO’s decision can appeal to the District Magistrate under Section 24(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, read with Rule 23 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. If dissatisfied with the District Magistrate’s order, they can file a second appeal before the Chief Electoral Officer under Section 24(b) of the Act, read with Rule 27 of the Rules.
(IANS)
