Karnataka draft voter rolls on August 24: The stats so far

Some 10.79 million people are marked Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, Others (ASDDO). Of the 44.63 million to be included in the rolls, 4.38 million will receive notices for verificationThe Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka is set to enter a key phase on August 24 when publication of the draft rolls are due. It marks the beginning of a two-month period of claims and objections for people to be included in the rolls and, equally significantly, the verification of electors who will receive notices because they could not be mapped to the 2002 SIR list or due to discrepancies such as mismatch of names.Karnataka has 55.43 million electors, out of which the enumeration forms of 44.63 million, or 80.5 per cent, were digitised during the first SIR phase that involved house-to-house enumeration visits by booth-level officers (BLOs).The remaining 10.79 million people were marked under categories such as Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate (meaning already enrolled) and Others. The acronym for these categories is ASDDO.Karnataka has one of the highest numbers under ASDDO compared to some states that completed the SIR exercise this year. For comparison, Uttar Pradesh had 28.8 million electors marked as ASDDO while Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West Bengal and Kerala had 9.7 million, 7.3 million, 5.8 million and 2.4 million, respectively. Bengaluru city recorded the highest percentage of ASDDO in the state at 45 per cent across four electoral districts, namely Bangalore Urban, BBMP North, BBMP Central and BBMP South. Next came Gulbarga with 22 per cent, Mysore at 19.9 per cent, Raichur at 18.75 per cent and Bellary at 18.16 per cent.Within the ASDDO grouping, those marked absent or shifted amount to 8 million or 14.54 per cent of Karnataka's total electors. They can apply for inclusion in the rolls using Form 6, meant for enrolling new electors, and Form 8, which pertains to recording change of address or corrections.Noting that “almost half of Bengaluru’s voters will disappear from the electoral rolls”, various civil society organisations met Karnataka chief minister D.K. Shivakumar on August 17 to flag concerns over the high number of exclusions under ASDDO. “Changing rented accommodation, moving to another address for work and shifting because of marriage are entirely natural and widespread aspects of life,” the organisations stated in a letter to the chief minister. “Cancelling their vote for this reason and telling them to submit Form 6 and register afresh is a gross violation of basic rights.”Out of the 44.63 million who will be included in the draft electoral rolls to be published on August 24, 2.34 million have been flagged for incomplete mapping while another 2.03 million have been flagged for anomalies or logical discrepancies in mapping. Taken together, 4.38 million electors will receive notices for verification.The anomalies cover nine types of discrepancies, ranging from mismatch of names to age gaps between parent and progeny that likely indicates incorrect mapping.The notices, generated by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or Assistant ERO, will specify the place, date and time at which the elector is required to be present for hearing along with the necessary documents. These notices will be served by the BLOs.According to the office of the Karnataka chief electoral officer, its activities following the publication of the draft rolls will focus on two tasks: verification of the 4.38 million voters who will be issued notices; and accepting fresh applications for inclusion in the roll from new voters and those marked absent or shifted.The period for filing claims and objections will run from August 24 to September 23 while the notice phase/disposal of claims and objections will extend up to October 22. The publication of the final electoral rolls is slated for October 27.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsPublished By: Akshita JollyPublished On: Aug 21, 2026 18:39 IST