Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar during a press meet in Bengaluru on Monday.
| Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Electors in Karnataka will not have to produce any documents during the house-to-house enumeration for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls beginning on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V. Anbu Kumar clarified on Monday.
Only forms to be given
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Kumar said Booth Level Officers will only distribute and collect enumeration forms during the month-long exercise and no documentary proof will be collected. He said that the forms will be in Kannada, but people can fill it up either in Kannada or in English, but not in any other language.
The objective was to ensure that every eligible elector participates in the revision and that the electoral rolls remain accurate.
The SIR is being undertaken in Karnataka following directions from the Election Commission of India (ECI), which has decided to carry out the exercise in a phased manner across 16 States and three Union Territories, with October 1, 2026, as the qualifying date.
Till July 29
The State’s house-to-house enumeration will continue till July 29. The draft electoral rolls will be published on August 5, after which electors can file claims and objections until September 4. Following disposal of claims and objections by October 3, the final electoral rolls will be published on October 7.
Mr. Kumar said Karnataka currently has 5,54,32,314 electors, all of whom would be covered under the revision exercise. BLOs will visit every household within their assigned polling areas, and distribute two sets of forms to electors whose names are included in the electoral rolls as on June 16, 2026.
Once the electors fill in the forms, the BLOs will collect them for digitisation. To ensure that no eligible elector is left out, BLOs have been instructed to make at least three visits to households wherever necessary.
Clarifying the implications of the exercise, Mr. Kumar said only those electors who submit the filled form within the prescribed period will find their names in the draft electoral rolls. Citizens who have recently attained the age of 18 or have otherwise become eligible for enrolment may submit Form 6, along with the prescribed declaration, for inclusion in the electoral rolls.
Logical discrepancies
On logical discrepancies, the CEO said while six had been identified for now, the exact number would be known only after the draft rolls are published on August 5.
Listing a few of the identified discrepancies, he said: “If the age difference between father and child is less than 15, if age difference between grandfather and grandson is more than 40 or if there is a change in gender and relationship apart from a few others, the AROs would send notices to the electors to submit documents and rectify them.”
The Election Commission has also enabled an online facility for filling the enumeration form through the Voters’ Service Portal and the ECINET mobile application, which will become operational on June 30.
Extensive preparations
The CEO said the State machinery had completed all preparatory for the exercise.
A total of 59,050 BLOs have been trained and deployed across Karnataka. In addition, all 31 District Election Officers, four Additional District Election Officers, 224 Electoral Registration Officers, 336 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, and 7,556 BLO Supervisors have undergone training for the process.
As many as 1,15,112 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) have been appointed by recognised political parties.
Awareness drive
To create awareness about the revision, district administrations and Assembly constituency-level election machinery will organise rallies and other outreach programmes across the State.
The CEO appealed to electors to cooperate with BLOs during their visits by accurately filling the forms, signing them and handing them over promptly.
Published – June 29, 2026 09:16 pm IST
