Karnataka SIR: Notices to be served to over 43 lakh citizens 

BENGALURU: In the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, will serve notices to 43, 80, 740 citizens in Karnataka, seeking information.

Key points

• ECI data indicated, Bihar has 65.64lakh ASDDO, Gujarat-73.73lakh, Kerala-24.08lakh, Madhya Pradesh-42.74lakh, Tamil Nadu-97.37lakh, Uttar Pradesh-2.88crore, West Bengal-58.28lakh and Odisha-20.12lakh.
• Data additionally demonstrated, 67.45lakh notices were issued to electors in Delhi, 12.56lakh in Hyderabad, 9.01lakh in Chennai, Lucknow-8.99lakh, Kolkotta north-2.60lakh and Kolkotta south-2.05 lakh.
• The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) offer the notice to Booth Level Officer (BLO).
• In the no mapping category, 17, 81, 819 are from Bengaluru's four districts.
• As per ECI directions one officer will handle only 150 notices per day, that is 2.8 minutes per notice.

This list comprises of 20, 35, 312 citizens who have anomalies in their enumeration forms (6, 24, 171 are from Bengaluru's four districts) and 23, 45, 428 electors who were unable to share mapping data (information of their 2002 SIR exercise) during the enumeration phase. In the no mapping category, 17, 81, 819 are from Bengaluru's four districts.

Data from Election Commission of India (ECI) indicated, Karnataka had the least notices compared to other states where SIR is ongoing- Gujarat- 1.11crore, Madhya Pradesh- 1.01crore, Uttar Pradesh- 3.26crore, Tamil Nadu- 1.64crore, West Bengal- 1.51crore and Odisha-58.36 lakh.

Notably, the next step after house-to house enumeration forms distribution and digitization exercise is publishing draft electoral rolls. It will be done on August 24, 2026. After this, the period of filing claims and objections will be held from August 24- September 23, 2026. Along with disposal of claims and objections from August 24- October 22, 2026. During this period, electors listed under no-mapping and anomalies categories will be published in their respective polling stations, panchayat offices, ward offices and other respective election offices, authorities in the CEO office stated.

"The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) offer the notice to Booth Level Officer (BLO). This person will inturn provide to electors at their residences. It will include the date, time and location where the voter has to to appear for verification. The notice will additionally have a scanner which voters can apply to upload forms online. Depending upon the type of anomaly, the list of documents required will be specified. Two documents apart from Aadhaar will be sought for, to establish identity, citizenship and residency. The BLOs will start handing over notices from August 31, " the official remarked.

Only two notices will be served, failing which they will be removed from the rolls and they have to fill Form-6 for inclusion. Electors have to visit the listed office in person along with hard copies of the documents for verification. When voter visits ERO office and when documents are submitted, admitting to voters' hardship and inconvenience, election official remarked, "It is required for photographs need to be taken at every step- when notice is served by BLO. All these photographs and information is uploaded on the BLO Apps for CEO office documentation. Notably, the voter is additionally required to sign the attendance and documentation register, " the official stated.

As per ECI directions one officer will handle only 150 notices per day, that is 2.8 minutes per notice. As per orders all no-mapping documents submitted by voters will be verified by the District Election Officer (DEO) before they are approved and uploaded, the official stated, additionally.

From August 17, 2024, the CEO reverified the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) list comprising 1, 07, 96, 415 citizens and anomalies and no-mapping lists before sharing it with all registered political parties.

During this period, extra Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AEROs) were additionally roped in for the SIR exercise and trained. The election official remarked, the AEROs will visit the houses of those who were served notices, the polling stations for clearing doubts and document verification. Additionally, during this period 15 polling stations were merged and 1, 826 polling stations were went on, taking the number of polling stations in Karnataka from 59, 050 to 60, 925.

Taken together, the developments around karnataka SIR: Notices to be served to over 43 lakh citizens point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.