Bengaluru Voter Verification to Start June 30 as Pre-SIR Mapping Hits 72 Percent
The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will launch a house-to-house voter verification drive across Bengaluru starting June 30, following the announcement that pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) mapping in the city has reached 72 percent completion.
GBA Chief Commissioner and District Election Officer Maheshwar Rao announced the schedule as part of preparatory activities to update and verify the city's electoral rolls. The SIR process itself is set to begin in Karnataka on June 20.
To facilitate the verification, the administration will deploy booth-level officers (BLOs) to each of the 8,023 polling booths in Bengaluru. Approximately 1,600 BLO supervisors will oversee the process. Most of the appointed BLOs are government school teachers.
As part of the preparatory work, officials are mapping the 2025 electoral rolls with those from 2002. The physical house-to-house verification process will run from June 30 until July 27. Following this, the draft electoral roll is scheduled for publication on August 5. Citizens will then have until September 4 to file claims and objections, with the final electoral roll slated for release on October 7.
During the visits, BLOs will distribute enumeration forms that residents must fill out and submit to maintain their names on the upcoming draft roll. If a resident is not home, the BLO will leave the form at the door and make at least three attempts to collect the completed document. The forms will include the BLO's name and contact details.
The announcement follows a meeting with political party representatives, some of whom expressed concern over the city's mapping progress. Arun Prasad A, state general secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party, noted that while Karnataka's rural districts achieved over 95 percent mapping, Bengaluru remains at around 70 percent. He expressed concern that incomplete mapping might force voters to produce extra documents during verification visits.
Prabhu Bosco, general secretary of the National People’s Party, suggested setting up dedicated help desks at corporation offices or BangaloreOne centres to assist citizens with the process, noting that telephone helplines could become overwhelmed.
