Karnataka SIR extension helps flag 4 lakh voters wrongly marked for deletion
08 lakh voters in Karnataka have applied to be included in the voter roll. (Representational image)The extended enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka appears to have helped reduce the number of ASDDO (absent, shifted, dead, duplicate and other) voters from 1.11 crore on August 5 to 1.08 crore as of Wednesday, according to data released by the chief electoral officer (CEO). While 85,267 voters were wrongly classified as “absent”, 95,037 voters were put in the “shifted” category—an error now rectified by the Election Commission of India. Similarly, 80,492 voters classified under “other”—which includes reasons such as refusing to sign the enumeration form—were also removed from the ASDDO lists.Overall, 2,41,082 names were removed from the ASDDO lists. Other changes included an increase in the number of voters classified as “dead” by 6,796, and “duplicate” voters by 12,918. Another change was in the number of voters classified under “no mapping”, for failing to map themselves or their lineage in the 2002 electoral roll. In a week, their numbers have reduced by 2.05 lakh—from 34.17 lakh to 32.05 lakh. CEO V Anbukkumar said political parties were requested to identify wrong entries after booth-wise ASDDO lists were published on August 3. “We published the list because we wanted to identify any mistakes. After intense verification and with help from booth-level agents, names of 2.41 lakh voters were rolled back from the ASDDO list,” he said Wednesday. The ASDDO lists are also given to all seven recognised political parties in the state. “If anyone needs to roll back an entry, booth-level officers (BLOs) will do that,” he said.Story continues below this ad The CEO refused to comment on actor Prakash Raj’s statement that he has marked “permanently shifted”. ‘Wrongful entries can still rise’ Sources in the CEO’s office said the extension of the deadline for the enumeration phase helped identify wrong entries. “Earlier, the house to house enumeration and verification phase was scheduled to end on July 29,” an official said, noting that it was first extended to August 8 and recently to August 17. “It was only after the ASDDO list went online that BLOs started receiving requests for rollback,” he said, adding that the number of wrongful entries in the ASDDO and “no mapping” lists could likely increase further. Since the SIR process began, 4.08 lakh voters have applied using Form 6 to be included in the voter roll. Most of them—63,509 voters—were in the Bangalore Urban electoral district.
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