2.9 Lakh Voter Hearings Pending As Bengaluru Alone Accounts for 66% of Cases
Election authorities in Karnataka are racing against tight operational timelines as nearly 2.9 lakh hearings remain pending under the Special Summary Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with the crucial final stage scheduled for Monday. Data released by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) highlights an acute regional concentration, revealing that capital city Bengaluru Urban and its three designated Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) districts account for an overwhelming 1.8 lakh pending cases—representing roughly 66% of the state's total pendency. With statutory mandates requiring all objection claims and voter verifications to be settled by October 22, election machinery across the state is operating at full stretch ahead of the final publication of the updated electoral register on October 27.
Notice Service Efficiency and the October 27 Publication Deadline
Official tracking records from the Chief Electoral Officer show that out of a monumental 4.38 million verification notices issued across administrative divisions, field personnel have successfully served 4.37 million notices, with 4.09 million individual hearings already concluded. Only 8,570 notices could not be delivered to listed recipients due to migration or incorrect residential records, with Bengaluru accounting for 3,522 of those undelivered cases. Booth-level officers and electoral registration teams now face a compressed timeline to adjudicate the remaining 2.9 lakh files, clear objections, and verify legitimate residency proofs before final roll lock-in.
Government Weighs SIT Probe Over Form 7 Voter Deletion Controversy
Parallel to administrative revisions, a significant political and legal controversy has erupted surrounding alleged systematic attempts to delete legitimate voters from the rolls using Form 7 objections during the ongoing exercise. The state administration is actively deliberating the formation of a dedicated Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate coordinated deletion drives across multiple constituencies. Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara held high-level review sessions with top police brass to map potential links across nine criminal cases registered in connection with bogus deletion submissions.
High Court Stays FIR Against Booth-Level Agents Amid Fraud Allegations
The intensifying dispute has simultaneously entered the judicial arena, with the Karnataka High Court granting an interim stay on an FIR filed against two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) booth-level agents who were booked over charges of submitting bulk Form 7 applications. The single bench is examining formal petitions challenging the police proceedings, where the applicants maintained that filing legitimate statutory objections complies strictly with Election Commission norms and denied any illegal tampering. As judicial scrutiny unfolds, electoral teams continue to process pending claims to ensure eligible citizens retain their democratic franchise before the October 27 publication cutoff.
