Karnataka publishes final voter list after intensive revision drops nearly one crore names

Karnataka published its final electoral roll following a Special Intensive Revision that reduced the total state electorate to roughly 4.55 crore voters from over 5.54 crore when the drive started. The draft list published on August 24 had slashed the count by more than 10.8 million, but the final roll showed a net addition of 8.64 lakh names compared to the draft stage after months of verification and hearings.

Deletions And Categories

The revision began on June 30 and involved house-to-house checks, comparisons with older records, and hearings for voters whose entries needed verification. The largest category of exclusions comprised 8.06 million voters classified as shifted or not found at their registered addresses. Officials also marked 1.63 million voters as deceased, over 700,000 as duplicate entries, and 383,000 under other categories. Election officials issued 4.38 million notices to give voters a chance to establish eligibility rather than removing names automatically.

Political Row

The process triggered intense political conflict, particularly over Form 7 applications used to object to entries. Form 7 applications jumped from 58,475 on September 23 to 2,28,917 by October 22. The ruling Congress accused Bharatiya Janata Party workers of filing bulk applications to remove eligible voters, especially in areas with large Muslim populations. The BJP denied the accusations, arguing that its workers were only targeting ineligible entries and accusing the Congress of trying to discredit a clean-up exercise. Police complaints were filed against individuals accused of submitting false forms.

Electorate Profile

The final electorate comprises over 2.25 crore male voters, 2.29 crore female voters, and 2,841 third-gender voters, including more than 6.83 lakh young voters aged 18 to 19 and over 3.92 lakh voters aged above 85. High-profile errors also surfaced during checks, such as a notice sent to Padma Shri awardee Harekala Hajabba due to record discrepancies, which was later withdrawn by officials.

Context

Special Intensive Revision drives are large-scale administrative exercises conducted by election authorities to clean up electoral rolls by removing duplicate, deceased, and untraceable entries. These processes frequently draw political scrutiny because changes to voter lists directly affect electoral dynamics and representation across constituencies.