Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar issued a stern warning to citizens as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls got underway across the state on Tuesday, cautioning that those who fail to ensure their names remain on the voter list could also lose access to government welfare benefits.
Addressing a press conference at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said voters must treat the exercise as mandatory and ensure timely submission of forms distributed by Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
"The right to vote is the right to live," Shivakumar said, urging residents to verify their enrolment in the ongoing exercise.
He pointed to developments in another state to underline his warning. "In West Bengal, an order has been issued to verify and delete all ineligible ration beneficiaries based on SIR. Similar measures are being taken by other states. If you lose the right to vote, you'll lose government benefits," he added.
Why The Warning Matters
Shivakumar's caution stems from a growing pattern across states where electoral roll revisions are increasingly being linked to welfare eligibility.
With ration cards, subsidies and other government schemes often cross-verified against voter rolls and residency records, individuals deleted from the electoral list during SIR risk simultaneously losing access to benefits tied to that documentation.
Shivakumar's reference to West Bengal's verification order signals that Karnataka could face a similar tightening of welfare eligibility checks once the revision is complete, making it critical for citizens to ensure their names are accurately enumerated.
To ease the process, the state government has announced it will issue permanent residential certificates to citizens, which the Revenue Department said will serve as proof of residence. These can be obtained online via the Seva Sindhu portal or offline through Atal Jana Snehi Kendras, Nadakacheris, Bengaluru One, Karnataka One and Grama One centres.
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The house-to-house enumeration exercise, which began Tuesday and will run till July 29, will cover over 5.5 crore electors statewide, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Anbukumar told NDTV.
He said 59,050 Booth Level Officers, 7,556 BLO Supervisors, 224 Electoral Registration Officers and 336 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers have been trained and deployed for the drive, alongside over 1.1 lakh Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties.
Officers will distribute enumeration forms to electors listed on the rolls as of June 16, marking visited households with a violet sticker and locked homes with a red sticker, making up to three visits where necessary. Anbukumar clarified that no documents will be collected during the enumeration phase itself.
The draft electoral roll will be published on August 5, with claims and objections accepted till September 4, before the final roll is released on October 7.
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