Karnataka Voter List Drops By 18 Percent After Special Revision

Karnataka has recorded a sharp 17.92 per cent drop in its final voter list following a special intensive revision by the Election Commission. This reduction marks the second highest percentage decrease among 24 states and union territories that have published their final rolls so far. Arunachal Pradesh reported the highest decrease at 22 per cent. Overall, voter rolls across 24 states and union territories have contracted by nearly ten per cent, removing a total of 7.04 crore entries.

Voter Figures

Prior to the revision, Karnataka had 5,54,32,314 voters. The final list published on Tuesday showed a decline of over 99.32 lakh voters, bringing the total down to 4,55,00,011. Bengaluru Urban saw the steepest local fall with a drop of over 40 per cent, moving from 1.03 crore electors down to 59.6 lakh. State Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar stated that the revision process was conducted transparently and according to the law, while also ruling out any mass generation of Form 7 for name deletions. He added that fewer than 1,000 foreigners were detected, mostly consisting of individuals from Nepal alongside a handful from the United States, Canada, and Norway.

Breakdown

Election Commission data shows that enumeration forms were generated for all 5.54 crore electors listed as of June 16 this year. The draft roll published on August 24 contained 4,46,80,151 electors, while the rest were marked under categories including absent, shifted, deceased, or duplicate entries. Out of the draft roll, notices went out to 43,82,824 electors, resulting in 43,20,957 being included in the final roll while 61,867 were found ineligible. Additionally, 10.08 lakh new electors joined during the claims and objections period. An age-wise breakdown indicates that voters aged 30 to 39 form the largest group at 1.02 crore, followed by the 40 to 49 age group at 94.17 lakh, and 6.83 lakh voters aged 18 to 19.

Context

Electoral roll revisions are routine exercises undertaken by election authorities to clean up voter databases by removing duplicate, dead, or shifted entries. Such large-scale updates help ensure the accuracy of voter lists ahead of upcoming democratic exercises.