BENGALURU: Data shared by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, pertaining to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, has shown a difference in the number of deletions. The discrepancy is around 6,000 voters deleted from the rolls in Karnataka.
The final SIR-2026 Draft Electoral Roll of August 24, 2026, released on Saturday, showed that election officials had received 67,307 Form-7 for deletion from electoral rolls from June 16 to August 23, 2026. However, data shared by the office of the CEO Karnataka on September 25, 2026, stated that 61,130 Form-7 were received and processed for deletion from the rolls.
The discrepancy in the number of Form-7 applicants also caught election officials by surprise. They admitted to the error and said the provision of rejecting applications for deletion was thin. The difference in numbers needs to be verified in detail by the CEO Karnataka and the Election Commission of India server.
When contacted, CEO Karnataka V Anbukkumar said he would look into the matter.
A total of 19,48,164 forms were received by election officials from June 6 to September 24, 2026. Of these, 7,70,988 were Form-6 for inclusion, 4,551 Form-6A by NRI voters for inclusion, and 11,11,495 Form-8 for corrections. The data, released on September 25, also showed that the maximum number of deletions were from Bidar constituency 5,154, followed by Shivamogga 3,181, Tumakuru 3,171, and Bangalore Urban 2,318.
But the draft rolls stated that from June 16 to August 23, 2026, election officials had received 14,67,929 forms. These included 4,73,354 Form-6, 3,880 Form-6A, 67,307 Form-7 and 9,23,388 Form-8. Form-7 is filed and submitted for deletion in case of death of a voter.
It is also submitted by a voter while permanently shifting residence to a different constituency, when there is duplicate voter registration or when a voter is found ineligible by other voters of the existing constituency.
Though Form-7 can be submitted throughout the year, it is filed and accepted during the SIR exercise period of filing claims and objections. As per the CEO Karnataka, the last date to file claims and objections was September 23. This was the second phase of the SIR exercise which had started on August 24. The period for disposing of claims and objections started on August 24 and will continue till October 22. The final electoral roll will be published on October 27.
Election officials were also unable to provide a category-wise break-up of the total Form-7 and Form-8 applications received and processed.
SIR SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR POLITICAL GAINS: DKS
Bengaluru: Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the Congress government had no objection to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls but objected to the exercise allegedly being used for political purposes.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Pourakarmikas Day celebrations held in Bengaluru on Friday, he said that even within the Election Commission, majority of the decisions were taken without the concurrence of the two Election Commissioners and said that the Opposition was right to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Reacting to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s criticism of the state government for seeking advance funds from the centre, Shivakumar said state had the right to seek financial assistance and questioned if the union government had not given advance funds to other states.