Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Aug 8: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has extended the enumeration and door-to-door verification exercise under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka till August 17, giving voters additional time to verify their details and approach Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
The revised schedule was announced by the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office on Friday, August 7, marking the second extension granted for the enumeration phase, which was originally scheduled to conclude on August 8.
With the latest extension, the draft electoral rolls will now be published on August 24, instead of the earlier scheduled date of August 17. The rearrangement of polling stations has also been rescheduled for August 17.
Citizens will be able to file claims and objections against the draft electoral rolls for one month, from August 24 to September 23. The final, officially revised electoral rolls are now scheduled to be published on October 27, 2026.
The extension comes days after civil society and citizen rights groups urged the Election Commission to provide more time following the publication of the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead and Others (ASDDO) list. The groups maintained that voters needed adequate time to verify their status and approach BLOs if they had been wrongly classified.
The extended deadline means voters whose names have been wrongly included in the ASDDO list now have until August 17 to approach their respective BLOs and submit the required information and documents to correct their details.
Earlier, Bengaluru-based citizen rights groups had demanded that the August 8 deadline be extended till September 30, citing concerns over the more than 1.10 crore voters in Karnataka marked under the ASDDO category and the possibility of their exclusion from the draft electoral rolls.
KPCC president Hariprasad seeks more time
Earlier, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president B K Hariprasad had also written to Karnataka chief electoral officer V Anbukumar on August 6, seeking a 15-day extension of the enumeration exercise.
Referring to the district-wise EF digitisation status as of August 5, Hariprasad said 1,10,97,426 voters, accounting for 20.02% of the electorate, had been categorised under ASDDO. He said the Election Commission had made the ASDDO list available online and allowed genuine voters affected by the classification to approach their respective BLOs to correct their records.
With the then August 8 deadline approaching, Hariprasad urged the CEO to provide another 15 days so that genuine voters could verify their details and submit the necessary documents. Such an extension, he said, would help ensure effective implementation of the exercise and reduce the number of genuine voters wrongly placed under the ASDDO category.
Shobha Karandlaje urges voters to complete formalities
Meanwhile, Union minister of state for labour and employment Shobha Karandlaje has urged citizens across Karnataka to ensure that their names are included in the electoral rolls and to complete their enumeration formalities.
Speaking to reporters at the Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hills in Mysuru on Friday, Karandlaje appealed to residents whose names did not figure in the voters’ list, as well as those who had not yet filled in and submitted their enumeration forms, to complete the formalities immediately.
She referred to the large number of voter enumeration forms pending digitisation in the Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency, which she represents, and said several voters were choosing to retain their voting rights in their native places.
“When we go house to house, many citizens are saying they will submit their enumeration forms in their native places and will vote there,” she said, while appealing to Kannadigas to participate in the SIR process.
Karandlaje stressed the importance of eligible voters checking their names and details in the electoral rolls and completing the required formalities to ensure that they can exercise their franchise.