Electors In Karnataka Down By 99.32 Lakh After SIR Exercise

Electors in Karnataka down by 99.32 lakh as per the final publication of Electoral Rolls on Tuesday after the Special Intensive Revision exercise undertaken by the Election Commission of India which began on June 30 this year. Prior to June 16, Karnataka had 5, 54, 32, 314 electors and the SIR exercise final publication said Karnataka had 4, 55, 00, 011 electors. However, electors number increase when compared with draft rolls published in August.

Clarifying that “no deletion of electors has been done on bulk Form 7 submissions a charge levelled by political parties especially the ruling Congress party in Karnataka, Chief Electoral Officer Anbukumar told a press conference in Bengaluru, the final electoral roll has 2, 25, 40, 493 male electors and 2, 29, 12, 355 female electors. Third gender electors are 2, 841 and 44, 322 service electors. Continuing, he said, 3, 252 are overseas electors, 6, 83, 364 are young electors aged between 18-19 years. As many as 3, 92, 134 are 85 years above electors and 5, 65, 340 are persons with disability electors.

He said “It is a continuous process to upgrade the electoral rolls through Form 6/6a/7 and 8” and appealed to “18 above youths to apply for getting into electoral rolls through Form 6 and the filled up forms will be duly certified by officials concerned to get them enrolled.”

The electors numbers published are after weeding out ineligible electors such as absent, dead, duplicate, shifted and already enrolled. The Enumeration phase of SIR was conducted from June 30 to August 17 was taken-up by the Election Commission to ensure a completely error-free, authentic and inclusive electoral roll by conducting rigorous house-to-house verification through Booth Level Officers.

“If eligible voters feel that they have been left out in the rolls, then a first appeal can be made to the District Election Officer and later on to the Chief Electoral Officer. So far, he said, 361 first appeals have been made and 9 such cases have been disposed off while 352 cases are pending. No appeals have been made to the Chief Electoral Officer so far,” Anbukumar said.

However, the electors as per the final publication pointed out that the numbers of electors increased by 8, 19, 714 from the draft roll published in August. The draft of electoral rolls 4, 46, 35, 975 and final roll published stated 4, 55, 00, 011 electors including 44, 322 service electors. The draft had 44, 176 service electors.

While clarifying especially to political parties suspecting irregularities in Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls exercise through Form 7 to delete selected eligible electors in Karnataka, Chief Electoral Officer Anbukumar on Tuesday stated “not a single eligible elector has been deleted through Form 7.” The SIR in Karnataka was conducted in a “transparent manner” and “as per law.

On charges levelled against bulk Form 7 submissions, Anbukumar said, Form 7 cannot be auto generated and only an Electoral Registration Officer /Assistant Electoral Registration Officer can only generate Form 7 for deletions of names from draft rolls after Speaking Order.

As many as 14 officers during SIR exercise in Karnataka died on duty and Election Commission of India would be requested for paying ex gratia to the kith and kin of the deceased, he said.