Karnataka's draft electoral roll: 1.10 crore voters flagged for deletion

Karnataka is likely to record one of the highest draft-stage electoral roll deletions in the country, with more than 1.10 crore voters — one-fifth of the State’s total electorate — marked under the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead and Others (ASDDO) category as on August 3. The ASDDO category covers 19.95% of the State’s voters.

This figure has already surpassed the highest draft-stage deletions recorded in Uttar Pradesh (19.09%) and Arunachal Pradesh (18.7%), where the exercise concluded in April. In West Bengal, the rolls shrank by 12% due to logical discrepancies, with remaining cases still under adjudication. Even among Phase III States, Karnataka’s ASDDO is significantly higher than Haryana (16.3%) and Andhra Pradesh (10.78%).

With over 2.41 lakh enumeration forms still pending digitisation, the ASDDO figure is likely to cross 20%. Recent trends indicate that more than 60% of the forms digitised each day are being added to the ASDDO list. For instance, between August 1 and 2, forms pending for digitisation dropped from 10.29 lakh to 4.89 lakh — meaning 5.40 lakh forms were digitised. During the same period, the ASDDO list increased from 1.05 crore to 1.09 crore, indicating that 4.02 lakh, or nearly 75%, of the digitised forms were marked under ASDDO.

The highest ASDDO proportions are in urban areas: BBMP South (52.46%), BBMP Central (49.38%), BBMP North (48.32%), Bengaluru Urban (45.85%), and Kalaburagi (22.59%).

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar admitted that the ASDDO list is intended to result in deletions, with names to be removed from the electoral roll unless voters object and establish that they are not shifted or absent. He maintained that mahazars had been conducted in all such cases and that voters marked as absent or shifted can submit relevant forms or get their enumeration forms corrected through the Booth Level Officer until August 8.

The pace of digitisation has picked up sharply as the August 8 deadline for enumeration approaches. Daily data shows that of every 8-10 lakh forms digitised, more than 60% and, in recent days, as much as 75% have been marked under the ASDDO category. The trend has remained consistent: on July 22, 1.41 crore forms were pending for digitisation; by August 3, that number had fallen to 4.89 lakh, while the ASDDO list had swelled from 24.58 lakh to 1.10 crore within 11 days.

However, the CEO did not explain where the 1.10 crore voters marked under ASDDO are ultimately being accounted for, or why Karnataka has bypassed other states in recording one of the highest ASDDO figures. Electoral roll accuracy is essential for free and fair elections, and the deletion of eligible voters without proper verification could disenfranchise citizens. The August 8 deadline offers a window for affected voters to correct their status, but the transparency of the process remains a key concern.