The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls began across Karnataka on Tuesday, with the Election Commission launching a large-scale house-to-house verification drive covering more than 5.5 crore voters. At the same time, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar urged people to make sure their names remain on the voters’ list, saying that losing voting rights could also affect access to government welfare benefits.
Calling voting a basic democratic right, Shivakumar said, “The right to vote is the right to live.” Referring to similar developments in West Bengal, he claimed that ineligible ration beneficiaries were being identified through the voter verification process. He said other states were also taking similar steps and warned that if people lose their voting rights, they could also lose government benefits.
How will the voter verification exercise be carried out?
The Election Commission’s house-to-house enumeration exercise will continue across Karnataka until July 29. Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Anbukumar said more than 5.5 crore electors will be covered during the revision process.
To carry out the exercise, 59,050 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), 7,556 BLO Supervisors, 224 Electoral Registration Officers and 336 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers have been deployed. More than 1.1 lakh Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties have also been trained.
BLOs will visit every household to distribute Enumeration Forms to voters whose names were on the electoral roll as of June 16, 2026. Houses where forms have been delivered will receive a violet square sticker, while locked homes will be marked with a red round sticker. If required, BLOs will make at least three visits to collect the completed forms.
The Election Commission has clarified that no documents will be collected during the enumeration stage. Voters only need to receive the form, fill it out, sign it and return it to the BLO.
What is Karnataka doing to help citizens?
Ahead of the revision drive, the Karnataka government announced that it would issue permanent residential certificates to help citizens complete the SIR process. These certificates will serve as proof of residence.
People can apply for the certificate online through the Seva Sindhu portal or offline at citizen service centres such as Atal Jana Snehi Kendras, Nadakacheris, Bengaluru One, Karnataka One and Grama One centres.
When will the revised voter list be published?
According to the Election Commission’s schedule, the draft electoral roll will be published on August 5. Citizens can file claims and objections until September 4. The final electoral roll will be released on October 7.
