Bengaluru: More than 33,500 voters in Karnataka have been found ineligible for inclusion in the final electoral rolls following hearings and verification under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), while the Election Commission’s deadline for publishing the final list is October 27.

Of the 42.29 lakh notices taken up for hearings and verification so far, 33,547 have resulted in rejections, according to the figures available. More than 1.50 lakh notices remain to be disposed of, while another 2,834 notices are yet to be served.

The draft electoral rolls, published on August 24, contained 4.46 crore voters. The revision process generated approximately 43.82 lakh notices over discrepancies and cases in which voters could not be mapped to the 2002 electoral rolls through their enumeration forms.

The Election Commission on September 26 suspended physical hearings conducted by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and directed Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to visit voters’ homes to collect documents for verification.

Following the verification process, 37,85,140 claims have been cleared for inclusion in the final rolls after hearings, while another 2,05,059 have been approved without hearings.

Bengaluru accounts for significant share of rejections

Among the areas reporting rejections, BBMP South recorded 4,18,214 notices. Of the 3,87,667 hearings conducted there, 4,162 claims were rejected.

Bengaluru Urban received 9,45,780 notices, with 3,719 claims rejected after hearings. Kolar recorded 3,438 rejections out of 1,42,182 notices, while Bengaluru Central reported 2,332 rejections against 4,29,391 notices.

Chikkaballapur recorded 2,908 rejections from 55,798 notices. In Koppal and Davangere, where the hearing process has been completed, 160 and 180 voters, respectively, were found ineligible.

Congress questions procedure

The Congress has raised concerns over the decision to replace physical hearings with door-to-door verification, arguing that the change could undermine voters’ ability to challenge decisions before the final rolls are published.

Baladeva Krishna, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s SIR in-charge, said the Election Commission had initially issued approximately 43.81 lakh notices before deciding that physical hearings were no longer necessary.

He argued that Electoral Registration Officers exercise quasi-judicial powers under the Representation of the People Act and should conduct hearings in such cases.

Krishna also questioned whether voters and political parties were being adequately informed about the outcome of the verification process.

According to him, Booth Level Officers upload the documents collected from voters, following which EROs examine them, but the decisions are not being communicated transparently to the affected voters or political parties.

He warned that this could leave voters with little practical time to challenge rejections through the prescribed appeals process before the final electoral rolls are published on October 27.

Concerns have also been raised in some polling areas over whether the verification process is being completed too quickly to meet the deadline.

Officials say verification continues until October 22

Election officials have maintained that the verification process will continue until October 22, leaving time to dispose of pending notices before the final rolls are published.

A senior official said most rejections resulted from voters failing to submit the required documents. Those whose claims have been rejected can appeal to the District Election Officer (DEO) or submit Form 6 afresh to seek inclusion in the electoral rolls.

The official said applicants would need to provide one of the 11 documents approved by the Election Commission of India, in addition to Aadhaar.

The official also said allegations of mass deletions through Form 7 applications had made EROs cautious about rejecting claims, even as they work within the prescribed deadlines.