Bengaluru: Around 64.5 lakh electors are potentially missing from Karnataka's final electoral rolls, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer has estimated, after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. A majority of them are young voters.
The figure is based on an elector-to-population ratio of 66.11. The rolls were published on Tuesday. Because the ratio suggests fewer registered voters than the population base would support, officials estimate that a gap of this size has opened up.
The numbers have set off a political row. Opposition parties say the rolls are being trimmed deliberately. The government's position is that the SIR was carried out on the Election Commission's instructions and within the law.
On Wednesday, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) extended its support to the INDIA bloc's November 1 rally against irregularities in the SIR. The party repeated its demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The rolls question also sits next to pending local body elections. A voter whose name is absent cannot cast a ballot, which is why the anxiety is sharpest among first-time and young electors.
Specialists point out that the SIR works off household size and documentation. Households that did not submit papers, or whose records were incomplete, are the ones most exposed to deletion. Against Karnataka's total electorate, 64.5 lakh is not a rounding error.
Officials have stressed that the ratio-based figure is an estimate of potential gaps, not a final count of deletions. The numbers can move after claims and objections are settled.
Opposition leaders are not satisfied with that framing. Congress and ally representatives have been demonstrating outside the CEO's office, demanding an independent verification committee for young voters' names.
With the November 1 rally approaching, the state police have been put on alert. The administration has not yet taken a final call on permission for the event.
Legal challenge is the next likely step. The Commission maintains the exercise was transparent.