More than 2.8 lakh hearings under Karnataka’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls remain pending, with Bengaluru Urban and the three Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike districts accounting for about 1.8 lakh cases, according to the state chief electoral officer. Claims and objections must be disposed of by October 22, while the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on October 27.
The Election Commission has generated 43.8 lakh notices during the revision exercise and delivered 43.7 lakh, or 99.8% of the total. Hearings have been completed in 40.9 lakh cases, representing 93.5% of the notices issued. Of the 8,570 notices that remain undelivered, 3,522 are in Bengaluru.
BBMP South has the largest pending workload, with 65,335 hearings still to be completed after 84.4% of cases were processed. Bengaluru Urban has the second-largest backlog at 54,943. Bengaluru accounts for 24.1 lakh notices, approximately 55% of the state total, making the city’s administrative capacity central to completing the revision before the final-roll deadline.
Outside the Bengaluru region, Gulbarga has completed 80.6% of its hearings, followed by Bidar at 85.1% and Bangalore Rural at 86%. Koppal has completed all hearings, according to the figures reported by the Times News Network.
The revision has also generated 23 lakh applications since June 16. Form 8, used for corrections and updates, accounted for 12.3 lakh applications, while Form 6, used to seek inclusion in the electoral roll, accounted for 9.5 lakh. Bengaluru Urban alone received 2.6 lakh applications.
Form 7, which is used to object to the inclusion or seek deletion of a name, was filed 1.1 lakh times across the state. The highest numbers were reported in Shivamogga, with 6,987 applications, Dakshina Kannada with 6,762 and Bidar with 6,101. The figures have emerged amid reports of bulk Form 7 filings that were allegedly not genuine.
Chief electoral officer V Anbukkumar has directed electoral registration officers to act against anyone who knowingly makes false statements in Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8. The Election Commission has separately ordered a special drive to identify left-out and first-time voters. Booth-level officers will compare the current roll with the pre-SIR roll, prepare lists of missing names and visit households. The exercise is expected to cover 20 to 25 electors a week over about a month.
Officials will assist eligible residents in filling Form 6 and share the lists with political-party agents and electoral registration officers. Camps are planned at polling booths, night shelters and labour colonies. Residents whose names are absent from the roll can apply for inclusion at any time.
The state government is also considering a special investigation team to examine nine cases registered across Karnataka over alleged attempts to delete voters through bulk Form 7 applications. Chief minister DK Shivakumar and deputy chief minister G Parameshwara have held consultations with senior police officials on whether the cases are connected. Shivakumar has alleged a conspiracy to manipulate electoral rolls, while the investigation is intended to establish how the applications were organised and submitted.
The Karnataka High Court on Friday granted an interim stay on FIRs registered against two BJP booth-level agents over bulk Form 7 applications. Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde passed the order after hearing petitions filed by Deepak Singh R and GS Vasanthalakshmi. One case concerns applications seeking deletion of 136 voters in the Malleswaram Assembly constituency, while the other relates to 778 applications.
The petitioners denied wrongdoing and argued that officials could verify the applications. Police contended that the petitioners had exceeded a stated limit of 50 Form 7 applications and had acted with an ulterior motive. The judge questioned whether filing more than 50 applications constituted an offence and noted that authorities must issue a notice to a voter before deleting a name. The court described the complaint as appearing hasty and premature. The next immediate administrative milestones are disposal of claims and objections by October 22 and publication of the final electoral roll on October 27.
