SIR of electoral rolls to begin in State from June 20

New Delhi: Karnataka will begin the next phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls from June 20, with more than 5.55 crore electors set to be covered.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the exercise will be done through a month-long house-to-house verification drive by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) from June 30.

Karnataka is among 16 States, which also include Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Telangana and three Union Territories, where SIR of electoral rolls will be taken up between May and December. Karnataka has been included in Phase-3 of the nationwide SIR, which is aimed at updating electoral rolls ahead of future elections and ensuring accuracy of voter records.

According to State Chief Electoral Officer Anbu Kumar, 86 percent of mapping has been completed so far and the remaining will be completed before the SIR exercise begins.

As per the schedule released by the ECI, preparatory work, training and printing of materials for Karnataka will be taken up between June 20 and 29. House- to-house visits by BLOs will then be held from June 30 to July 29.

Rationalisation of polling stations is to be completed by July 29. Subsequently, the draft electoral rolls for Karnataka will be published on Aug. 5. Claims and objections can be filed from Aug. 5 to Sept. 4, while disposal of claims and objections will continue till Oct. 3. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on Oct. 7.

According to official figures, Karnataka has 5,55,74,064 electors as of May 12, making it one of the larger States in the Phase-3 exercise. The SIR will be carried out by 59,050 BLOs, while political parties have so far appointed 25,284 Booth Level Agents (BLAs).

The SIR exercise would involve door-to-door verification of electors, identification of duplicate or shifted entries, addition of eligible new voters and correction of errors in existing records.