As Karnataka moves towards the publication of the draft electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), 1,08,75,304 electors have been categorised as ASDDO (Absent, Permanently Shifted, Dead, Duplicate or Other) as of August 12.
The figure has, however, declined by 2,41,082, or 2.17 per cent, from the initial 1,11,16,386 electors categorised as ASDDO on August 5, according to the latest data provided by the State Election Commission. Of the total 1.08 crore electors currently under the ASDDO category, the largest group comprises those marked as permanently shifted, accounting for 65,73,976 voters. This is followed by 16,36,673 electors marked as dead and 15,48,757 classified as absent.
Another 7,01,412 voters have been identified as already enrolled elsewhere (duplicate), while 4,14,486 have been placed under the ‘Other’ category. The ‘Other’ category also included voters who initially refused to sign the enumeration form. However, 80,492 voters have been removed from this category, suggesting that they subsequently approached the BLOs and signed the forms.
Those whose names have been incorrectly categorised can submit claims and objections and establish their eligibility before the final electoral roll is prepared.
When a reporter asked about actor and political activist Prakash Raj’s claim that his name had been deleted, V Anbukkumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, said, “We don’t comment on individual cases, but we respect the sentiment of each and every voter.”
He further said, “If any voter’s name is wrongly added to the ASDDO list, they still have time till August 17 to contact the BLO and get their name rolled back into the list.”
Prakash Raj published a video on social media on Tuesday claiming that his name had been deleted from his Bengaluru address, where he had also stood as an independent candidate for the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. He alleged that the removal was politically motivated.
However, according to electoral officials who visited the address, he was not living at the address where he was enrolled as a voter. Last week, the Election Commission revised the deadline for the house-to-house collection of enumeration forms by nine days to accommodate eligible voters who had been marked as ASDDO and give them an opportunity to establish their eligibility before the draft roll is published. The draft electoral roll will now be published on August 24.
