Karnataka Extends SIR Drive After Nearly 14 Lakh Voters Are Flagged—Here's Why

Over 14 lakh voters in Karnataka, classified as 'absentee, shifted, or dead' (ASD), may be removed from the state's electoral lists. This extensive verification has prompted the Election Commission of India to extend the revision deadline, with the final list now due on October 19.

In Karnataka, there are over 14 lakh voters who may be removed from the state's electoral lists. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has had to extend the deadline for the Special Summary Revision (SIR) of the voter list due to the sheer volume. The August 19 deadline for the final publication has been postponed by two months. The voters who have been marked are classified as "ASD" (absentee, shifted, or dead). 

A startling 13,96,911 such entries were found during the revising process, according to the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). That's not all, though. Another 1,71,235 duplicate records that need to be eliminated were discovered during a different house-to-house verification campaign carried out by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Make what you want out of that.

A Time-Consuming Verification

This isn't a simple data entry job.  According to the CEO's office, removing more than a million names from the electoral roster necessitates thorough physical verification in every instance, which is an extremely time-consuming process. The CEO of Karnataka formally asked the ECI for an extension for this main reason. The original August deadline for resolving all claims and objections was unachievable due to the scope of the cleaning. Since then, the request for further time has been granted by the ECI.

The New Timeline

Officials now have until September 16 to finish resolving all claims and objections under the updated timeline. The database will then be updated, and by October 11th, the required supplements will be printed. On October 19, Karnataka's final, cleaned-up electoral roll will be formally released. The enormous difficulty officials have in guaranteeing the correctness of the state's voter list is highlighted by the two-month delay.