- Karnataka begins Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls from Tuesday
- CM Shivakumar warns losing voting rights will result in loss of government benefits
- Permanent residential certificates will be issued to aid the SIR process in Karnataka
As the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls gets underway in Karnataka from Tuesday, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar warned citizens against losing their voting rights. Urging people to ensure that their names are on the electoral rolls, the Chief Minister cautioned that those who lose their voting rights will also lose government benefits.
"The right to vote is the right to live," he said. "In West Bengal, an order has been issued to verify and delete all ineligible ration beneficiaries based on SIR. Similar measures are being taken by other states. If you lose the right to vote, you'll lose government benefits," he added.
The Election Commission will begin the house-to-house enumeration exercise across Karnataka from Tuesday, and it will continue till July 29.
In a major step to help people with the SIR process, the DK Shivakumar government has announced that it will issue permanent residential certificates to citizens. The Revenue Department has issued comprehensive guidelines on issuing permanent residential certificates. Citizens can obtain them both online and offline.
The Revenue Department has stated that this permanent residential certificate will serve as proof of residence. Citizens can apply for the permanent residential certificates online through the Seva Sindhu portal and at existing citizen service centres such as Atal Jana Snehi Kendras or Nadakacheris, Bengaluru One, Karnataka One, and Grama One.
Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Anbukumar told NDTV that the revision will cover over 5.5 crore electors across the state. A total of 59,050 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have been trained and deployed, along with 7,556 BLO Supervisors, 224 Electoral Registration Officers, and 336 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers. Additionally, over 1.1 lakh Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties have also been trained.
"We have already printed two sets of Enumeration Forms for more than 5.5 crore voters, and the forms have reached all the BLOs. From Tuesday morning, the BLOs will start visiting the houses of voters and distributing the forms," Anbukumar said.
The BLOs will visit every household to distribute Enumeration Forms to electors whose names are on the electoral roll as on June 16, 2026. Houses where forms are distributed will be marked with a violet square sticker, while locked houses will be marked with a red round sticker. BLOs will make at least three visits, wherever necessary, to collect the completed forms.
The Election Commission has clarified that no documents will be collected during the enumeration phase.
"I request the voters to kindly receive the form, fill it out and sign it, and hand it back to the BLO," Anbukumar appealed.
Seeking to allay concerns over the exercise, the CEO said, "The entire process will be done as per the directions of the Election Commission of India, and it will be as per the law. So, I request people not to have any misgivings."
He said the CEO's office would issue daily updates on the progress of the exercise.
The draft electoral roll will be published on August 5, claims and objections can be filed till September 4, and the final electoral roll will be published on October 7.
