# 1.08 crore Karnataka voters flagged for draft electoral roll deletion 2026-08-18T10:23:33+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets (4 source reports) At least 1.08 crore Karnataka voters, 19.47% of the state’s 5.54 crore electorate, have been placed in the ASDDO (Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead and Others) category under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the highest draft-stage deletion rate in the country. The draft roll is to be published on August 24. Siasat reports that 46.88 lakh of those flagged voters are in Bengaluru alone, with BJP-held seats accounting for 27.69 lakh and Congress-held seats for 16.79 lakh. The Hindu reports that over 2.41 lakh enumeration forms are still pending digitisation, and the data shows more than 60% of forms processed daily are added to the ASDDO list. The CEO V. Anbu Kumar has said mahazars were conducted in all cases and that affected voters can file claims and objections until September 23 before the final roll is published on October 27. Earlier, on August 5, the CEO agreed to make the ASDDO list public after pressure from civil society groups. India Today notes that of the 1.08 crore flagged, 65.61 lakh had permanently shifted address, 15.28 lakh were untraceable, 16.38 lakh were deceased, and 7.07 lakh were duplicate or fake entries. The final roll will be released on October 27 after the claims process ends. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The Hindu’s two pieces and India Today provide a neutral, data-heavy account of the SIR process, while Siasat adds a sharp political frame by breaking down ASDDO figures by party-held constituencies. The pro-government reading, implicit in the CEO’s assurances that parties were given lists every two hours, emphasises procedural transparency and migration as the main cause. The critical reading, led by The Hindu’s explainer, highlights confusion over form-filling, inconsistent training, and a three-lakh unexplained drop in the ASDDO count between August 5 and 17. Neither side offers a definitive verdict on whether deletions are legitimate or flawed, the measured takeaway is that the scale (1.08 crore voters) invites scrutiny, with the claims-and-objections window from August 24 to September 23 as the real test. Watch the objection-filing rate in Bengaluru South, 3.63 lakh voters on the list, to gauge whether the process works. ## Coverage Coverage: 4 sources, 2 government-critical, 1 neutral, 1 sensationalist - thehindu.com (government critical) Leads with raw numbers and CEOu2019s procedural defence, but includes pointed question about unexplained drop in ASDDO count - thehindu.com (2) (government critical) Highlights systemic confusion, poor training, and inconsistent instructions as causes - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Wire-style neutral report of official figures and timelines, no critical framing - siasat.com (sensationalist) Frames numbers by party-held seats, suggests political targeting in Bengaluru This story was synthesised by AI from the 4 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 4 sources. Last updated 2026-08-18T15:53:34+00:00. Tags: Bengaluru, chief electoral officer, Election Commission of India, Karnataka Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/1-08-crore-karnataka-voters-face-removal-from-draft-electoral-roll/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/1-08-crore-karnataka-voters-face-removal-from-draft-electoral-roll/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/