Bengaluru: Nearly 3 lakh voters who were on the verge of losing their voting rights are back on the electoral rolls in one of the biggest corrections yet in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.These voters were on the ASDDO (absent, shifted, dead, duplicate, others) list. About 2.9 lakh voters were removed from Karnataka’s ASDDO list between Aug 3 and 9, with Bengaluru accounting for the largest reduction as Election Commission is carrying out a quality check before publication of the draft electoral rolls.Karnataka has more than 1crore names on ASDDO list, which means they have to produce credentials to stay — or go off — the list. This accounts nearly 20% — or a sixth — of the total electorate in Karnataka.The state has completed 100% digitisation of enumeration forms. Voters who find their names on the list can check the latest details on the Chief Electoral Officer Karnataka website and approach their BLOs if they have been wrongly classified.ECI officials had earlier indicated that a reduction in ASDDO numbers would suggest errors in classification were being corrected.Bengaluru Urban recorded the biggest decline, from 18.4 lakh on Aug 3 to 17.5 lakh on Aug 9, a reduction of more than 89,000 voters. BBMP North saw 55,149 fewer voters on the list, followed by BBMP Central with 51,006 and BBMP South with 47,870.Mysuru, Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Kolar, Kodagu, Yadgir, Vijayapura, Gadag, Dakshina Kannada, Koppal, Bengaluru Rural and Haveri were among the other districts that recorded reductions. In all, 16 of Karnataka’s 34 districts recorded a decline in ASDDO numbers, while the remaining districts saw increases as digitisation continued until Aug 7. “Voters have begun reaching out to BLOs to roll back their names from the ASDDO list,” said a BLA in Nallurhalli, where around 45% of voters at his booth had been marked as ASDDO.In another instance, a family in Kengeri found its names on the ASDDO list despite having filled in their 2025 details, signed the forms and submitted them. An ECI technical expert said such cases could be due to names appearing on an older version of the ASDDO list and advised voters to check the latest list on the CEO website. “Those who are at their addresses mentioned in the 2025 list will be given the forms,” officials said.Officials said the additional 10 days provided for the exercise were primarily meant for quality checks and corrections. “Those who are at their addresses mentioned in the enumeration form, based on the 2026 rolls, will receive the forms. Those who did not enrol elsewhere and are residing in Karnataka can apply through Form 6 for addition to the list. This will be processed after the draft list,” ECI officials said.
