BENGALURU: The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, has issued show-cause notices to 35 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for mass/group distribution of enumeration forms under the house-to-house Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
CEO, Karnataka, V Anbukkumar, said notices were issued, seeking information based on the complaints received that BLOs were not visiting the houses of electors as per the directions of the Election Commission of India. After July 1, no complaints pertaining to this have been received, he said, adding that detailed interactions with political parties have been held, explaining the exercise and the details.
On grievances from citizens, he said respective District Election Officers (DEOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and district administrators have been directed to look into them. He was confident that the SIR exercise would be completed within the stipulated time, continuing till July 29, 2026.
As per data from the CEO’s office, as on July 8, nine days since the exercise commenced, 48,16,723 enumeration forms have been distributed (80.85%) and 52,53,332 forms have been digitised (9.45%).
19 constituencies see 98% form distribution
In all, 1,30,975 forms have been uncollected, of which 9,174 are duplicate, 53,435 are dead, 65,479 have permanently shifted homes and 2,134 were absent, as per data from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office.
In Devadurga, Kumta, Hirekerur and Mayakonda Assembly constituencies, form distribution is 100%. Besides, 19 assembly constituencies reported above 98% distribution. The lowest is in Bommanahalli (35.01%) and Bengaluru South (39.95%) Assembly constituencies.
In Ranebennur and Virajpet, 100% digitisation of forms has happened and in 65 polling stations, it is above 90%.
Anbukkumar said 573 electors have refused to sign the forms due to various reasons. He said all the details of the electors are being shared with registered political parties and Block Level Agents (BLAs) at regular intervals. They have been requested to look into the details, and if there are any errors on the part of the BLOs in collection and updating of data, they can inform EROs, DEOs and the CEO, and the issues will be addressed, he said.
On forms being collected by BLAs, he said they can do it on behalf of BLOs. But they cannot collect over 50 forms from electors and this rule on the number of forms will be applicable till the draft rules are published on August 5. They have to hand over the forms to BLOs. After August 5, BLAs cannot more than 10 forms. They have to submit the forms with an undertaking on the collection and handing over, he said.
On citizens not being able to find their 2002 electoral details, the CEO said citizens can leave the column blank, and seek assistance from BLOs, check details online, or visit the voter facilitation centres.
He said over 91% mapping has been completed and that exercise will continue parallelly. The last SIR details of other states can also be filled in the forms.
On the language row, he said citizens can fill the forms in any language of their choice. In case of mistakes while filing, uploading and filling old details, electors can ask BLOs to edit the details.
But after July 29, this cannot be done. Citizens can also tag their mobile phone numbers with their EPIC numbers if it has not been done so far.
