Prakash Raj-backed SIR ground survey flags errors in Karnataka enumeration process

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll is in the middle of a controversy, as opposition parties are pressing to scrap the disputed exercise. Amid these developments, a ground investigation report released by the Anti-SIR Alliance and Citizens’ Vote Protection Committee and backed by actor and activist Prakash Raj has flagged what is described as widespread discrepancies in the Karnataka SIR.

Prakash Raj conducted special public hearings across the state against the enumeration process under SIR Parishodha Mattu SIR Prathirodha (SIR Investigation and SIR Resistance) campaign. The 23-page report released in Bengaluru on Wednesday is based on house-to-house verification across 100 polling booths in 25 districts. The report flags cases of eligible voters being marked “shifted”, “absent” or even “dead” despite continuing to live at the same addresses.

The report’s key finding is the scale of deletions. It says 1.08 crore names were excluded from the draft roll under the ASDDO categories — Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others. Of these, 65.45 lakh were classified as “Shifted”, 15.17 lakh as “Absent”, 16.39 lakh as “Dead”, 7.09 lakh as “Duplicate” and 3.83 lakh under “Others”.

Bengaluru figures prominently in the report. It says the city’s draft electoral roll fell from 1.11crore voters to 48.48 lakh, a reduction of 43.6 per cent. Official SIR data had identified 46.88 lakh Bengaluru voters under the ASDDO categories.

The “Shifted” category is a particular focus of the investigation. Its volunteers found cases of people being classified as shifted despite continuing to live at the same address. In one Bengaluru locality, the report says 826 of 1,300 residents were marked shifted even though they were living there and had submitted enumeration forms.

The report also records cases of living voters being marked “Dead”, effectively requiring them to establish that they were alive and seek re-entry into the electoral rolls.

Another concern is the non-delivery of enumeration forms. The investigation records cases involving elderly residents, migrant workers and members of nomadic communities in districts including Dharwad, Mandya and Bengaluru.

The report also examines the 43.81 lakh notices issued in Karnataka. Of these, 23.45 lakh were linked to voters whose names could not be mapped with the 2002 electoral roll, while 20.35 lakh were classified under “logical discrepancies”. Investigators say some notices were triggered by spelling variations, age differences and other database discrepancies.

The report claims that the impact has been particularly felt among poorer and marginalised communities, including Dalits, Adivasis, nomadic groups and Muslims.

The investigation covered only 100 of Karnataka’s more than 50,000 polling booths. It calls for wider verification of the deletions and restoration of eligible voters found to have been wrongly excluded.

The report names individuals affected by the exercise in various constituencies across the state. This report comes as a sample of possible loopholes or inefficiencies in the SIR process in Karnataka.