BENGALURU: The involvement of citizens in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise will start from June 30 with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, commencing the door-to-door data collection.
From June 20, when SIR started in Karnataka, till date, the CEO office has printed over 11 crore forms, while the state has 5,55,74,064 voters. Each elector will get two sets of partially printed, customised forms, which they have to fill. One will be retained by the elector, after it is duly signed by the Booth Level Officer (BLO), and the second will be handed over to BLOs for filing and accounting.
To ensure that no voter is left out, election officials have listed phone numbers of BLOs and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) on their website. Taking this a step ahead, election officials have decided that if a voter’s house is locked for a long time, a sticker will be pasted on their door, which will have the contact details of BLOs. Citizens can then contact BLOs to get their enumeration forms.
“A person’s enumeration forms will not be handed over to their neighbour or somebody else in their absence. It will only be given to the listed elector or authorised family members. A provision is also being made to slip the form into the house of the elector, in select instances. The enumeration forms will have the contact details of BLOs, whom the electors can contact and hand over the forms,” said CEO Karnataka V Anbukkumar.
BLOs to call up residents if not found at home
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V Anbukkumar said BLOs will also contact electors if they are not found at their registered address at the time of door-to-door visit. These calls will be made by BLOs from their registered numbers and not any call centre. With this, citizens will also be aware of BLO’s details.
Each form has a QR code, which is customised for each elector with all his/her data. At the time of submitting the form, citizens can share any of the 11 authorised identity proofs, approved by the state and Central governments.
This is the ninth time SIR is being conducted, while the last was in 2002. The Election Commission is using the 2002 database and 2023 electoral data for the 2026 SIR exercise. In 2002, Karnataka had three crore electors.
Election officials said that no uniform method of operations is being followed in Karnataka for approaching electors. EROs and BLOs will take the decision on the spot. From June 30, electors, BLOs and EROs have 30 days to ensure the enumeration forms are filled up and submitted back to BLOs. Deputy commissioners, municipal commissioners, panchayat heads and other authorised heads have been assigned the task of ensure SIR is conducted unhindered, election officials added.
As per data from the CEO Karnataka office, so far 91.56% mapping has been done. This is the second highest in India after Odisha, where 93% had been completed. In Karnataka, it will clock 94% if the Greater Bengaluru Authority limits are excluded. In GBA limits, 75% mapping has been completed.
Officials said that mapping will continue during the door-to-door data collection till draft electoral rolls are published on August 5, 2026.
During a recent video-conference with registered political parties, 160 people participated. In all, there are 59,050 BLOs and 6,000 BLO supervisors. There are also 72,058 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) deployed by registered political parties.
Election officials asserted that during SIR and till the final electoral rolls are published, on October 7, 2026, the special summary revision exercise will be halted. However, BLOs will carry Form 6 with them to enrol new electors. Dedicated voter facilitation centres have also been set up at ward and panchayat level to assist electors. Dedicated BLO facilitation centres have been set up for election staffers to tabulate and upload the enumeration forms on the Election Commission website.
How SIR will unfold
June 20-29: Preparation, printing & training
June 30-July 29: House-to-house visit by BLOs
Aug 5: Publication of draft electoral roll
Aug 5-Sept 4: Filing claims & objections
Aug 5-Sept 3: Disposal of claims & objections
Sept 7: Publication of final electoral roll
