Karnataka SIR: Dy CM Parameshwara orders no eligible voter left out of electoral rolls
Synopsis
Karnataka's SIR draft rolls have already flagged over 1.07 crore names — nearly one in five voters — for deletion. Deputy CM Parameshwara's emergency directive to district officials reveals the scale of the administrative scramble now underway to prevent mass disenfranchisement before the revised rolls are locked in.
Key Takeaways
Parameshwara on 16 September 2026 directed all district officials to ensure no eligible voter is left out of the electoral rolls during the ECI's SIR process.
Mapping of 43.81 lakh voters across Karnataka remains incomplete.
ECI's SIR draft rolls deleted over 1.07 crore names — about 19.5% of total voters — under the ASDDO category.
An additional 43.80 lakh voters have been flagged for discrepancy notices.
Officials were also directed to expedite registration of Bharat Jodo Yuva Sanghas and dispose of Prajaseva Abhiyan applications, especially revenue-related ones.
Land identification for housing sites for poor families must be completed by end of September 2026 .
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister G. Parameshwara on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, directed district officials across the state to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded from electoral rolls during the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The directive came against the backdrop of a controversial draft revision that has already flagged over 1.07 crore names for deletion — nearly 19.5% of Karnataka's total voter base.
What Parameshwara Directed Officials
Chairing a revenue department progress review meeting via videoconference at Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru, Deputy Chief Minister Parameshwara highlighted that mapping of 43.81 lakh voters across Karnataka was yet to be completed. He directed officials to record necessary details of people who have shifted residences as part of the SIR process, warning that such voters are at heightened risk of being dropped from rolls.
'There is a possibility that voters who have left their native places and have been residing elsewhere for several years may be excluded from the electoral rolls. This should not be neglected,' Parameshwara said. He also stressed that Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs) must be issued without delay and that greater attention be paid to Form 6 — the form used by new or displaced voters to register or update their details.
The Scale of the SIR Controversy
The urgency behind Wednesday's meeting is rooted in a striking statistic: the Election Commission of India's SIR draft rolls in Karnataka deleted over 1.07 crore names under the 'Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead, and Others' (ASDDO) category. An additional 43.80 lakh voters were flagged to receive notices for discrepancies. Together, these figures have triggered widespread public anxiety and drawn sharp political concern from multiple quarters. Notices have since been issued for correction of names and other electoral roll-related issues.
Other Directives from the Review Meeting
Beyond the electoral rolls issue, Deputy Chief Minister Parameshwara used the meeting to issue a broad set of administrative directives. He called for the expedited registration of Bharat Jodo Yuva Sanghas — described as a flagship initiative of Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar — noting that the process had been stalled due to technical issues. 'Application forms should be distributed and filled out immediately,' he said, adding that the programme is being implemented 'for the first time in the country.'
He also directed officials to speed up disposal of applications under the Prajaseva Abhiyan, particularly those related to RTC corrections and pension matters handled by the Revenue Department. Separately, officials were told to complete identification of land for housing sites for poor families by the end of September 2026, with senior officials pledged to provide technical support where needed.
Officials Present at the Meeting
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department R.K. Kataria, Disaster Management Department Secretary Manoj Kumar Meena, Revenue Commissioner Meena Nagaraj, and Commissioner of the Department of Survey, Settlement and Land Records Venkataraj, along with Deputy Commissioners from all districts.
What Happens Next
With the SIR process still unfolding, the coming weeks will be critical for Karnataka's estimated 5.5 crore-plus voter base. District officials now face a tight operational window to verify, map, and reinstate eligible voters before the revised rolls are finalised. Any failure to restore wrongly deleted names could have material consequences for future state and national elections in Karnataka.
Point of View
But a last-minute videoconference directive is a thin safeguard against a structural problem: SIR's ASDDO methodology appears to have conflated genuinely ineligible voters with those who are simply mobile — migrant workers, students, and seasonal labourers who remain fully entitled to vote. The 43.80 lakh additional notices suggest the net has been cast even wider. Until the Election Commission provides granular, district-level transparency on its deletion criteria, concerns about selective or inadvertent disenfranchisement will persist, and Karnataka's political parties have every incentive to amplify them ahead of the next electoral cycle.
NationPress
16 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the ECI's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Karnataka?
The Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a periodic exercise to update and clean electoral rolls by removing names of voters classified as absent, shifted, duplicate, dead, or otherwise ineligible. In Karnataka's latest SIR draft, over 1.07 crore names — about 19.5% of the state's total voter base — were flagged for deletion, triggering widespread concern about potential mass disenfranchisement.
Why did Karnataka Dy CM Parameshwara issue directives to district officials?
Deputy CM G. Parameshwara directed officials because the SIR process risks deleting voters who have shifted residences for work, education, or other reasons but remain eligible to vote. He warned that such voters could be 'neglected' and ordered officials to map and record their details to prevent wrongful exclusion from the rolls.
How many Karnataka voters are at risk of being excluded from electoral rolls?
Over 1.07 crore names have already been marked for deletion under the ASDDO category in the SIR draft rolls. An additional 43.80 lakh voters have been flagged to receive notices for discrepancies, meaning a combined figure of roughly 1.5 crore voters could face some form of electoral roll action.
What is Bharat Jodo Yuva Sangha and why was it mentioned at the meeting?
Bharat Jodo Yuva Sangha is a youth organisation initiative described by Parameshwara as a flagship programme of Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. Its registration process had been stalled due to technical issues, and officials were directed at Wednesday's meeting to immediately distribute application forms and expedite the formation of these organisations.
What steps can displaced or migrant voters in Karnataka take to protect their voter registration?
Eligible voters who have shifted residences should file Form 6 with their local electoral registration officer to update or retain their registration. Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs) are also relevant for those requiring residential proof, and officials have been directed to issue these without delay as part of the SIR corrective process.
