Over 1.08 Crore Voters Left Under ASDDO Category as Revision Ends in State

Over 1.08 crore voters in Karnataka remained classified under the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead, and Others (ASDDO) category as the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) concluded on Monday. These voters will not figure in the draft electoral roll scheduled for publication on August 24.

In Bengaluru, multiple constituencies continue to see more than half of their registered voters listed under the ASDDO category, including BTM Layout, Bommanahalli, Dasarahalli, Vijayanagar, and C.V. Raman Nagar. The issue has also been widely reported across other districts, including Kalaburagi, Mysuru, and Raichur.

The statewide ASDDO total dropped from 1.11 crore on August 5 to over 1.08 crore on Monday, the final day of the enumeration exercise. However, officials noted that this decline was not uniform across different classifications. The number of entries marked as "dead" rose from 16.30 lakh to 16.38 lakh, while those marked as "already enrolled/duplicate" increased from 6.89 lakh to 7.07 lakh during the same timeframe.

The nearly 3-lakh overall reduction in the ASDDO list between August 5 and August 17 came primarily from Bengaluru, with negligible variation reported in other districts. Booth-Level Agents (BLAs) indicated that many voters outside Bengaluru remained unaware of their inclusion in the ASDDO list or were unfamiliar with the revision process.

Several citizens who approached election authorities after discovering their names on the ASDDO list reported that Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) appeared to shift names between categories rather than removing them from the flagged list altogether. Multiple voters and civil society organisations stated that names persisted under ASDDO despite formal requests for correction.

Discrepancies were also noted in specific constituencies outside the capital. In Chittapur in Kalaburagi district, represented by Home Minister Priyank Kharge, 22.13% of voters remain categorized under ASDDO, despite the constituency having achieved a 99.73% mapping rate prior to enumeration. Nearly 20% of Chittapur's ASDDO voters are concentrated in just 26 polling booths.

Following the publication of the draft electoral roll on August 24, citizens will have an opportunity to file claims and objections through September 23. Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will subsequently issue notices where required and dispose of all claims and objections through October 22.