SIR: Over 91% electors mapped, yet more than one crore deleted from draft roll
Karnataka's Special Intensive Revision process has resulted in the deletion of over one crore voters despite a high mapping rate. Officials are facing scrutiny over discrepancies between mapping data and the issuance of 'no mapping' notices.
Why it matters
The integrity of voter rolls is fundamental to democratic processes, and mass deletions raise concerns about disenfranchisement and administrative transparency.
While 91.30% of the electors, including progeny, were mapped as per official data under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the deletions after the draft roll went beyond 19%, making it unclear who the remaining voters were who were mapped but still deleted.
Before the draft roll was published, Karnataka had 5.54 crore voters. Of this, 5.06 crore voters, including progeny, were mapped, leaving 48.21 lakh electors unmapped. However, the deletions crossed 1.07 crore in the State.
Officials gave different explanations, but none backed up the official figures.
Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and other officials in Bengaluru said that voters who could not be mapped were given notices under ‘no mapping’. However, only 23.45 lakh notices were generated under ‘no mapping’, though the pre-enumeration mapping exercise had identified the figure to be nearly twice that number – 48.21 lakh.
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