The final electoral rolls for Karnataka, released Tuesday, mark a stark departure from the pre-revision count. The state's voter population has shrunk by 99.32 lakh individuals, dropping from 5,54,32,314 to a finalized 4,55,00,011. This nearly one-crore reduction comes directly from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, a cleanup exercise aimed at weeding out bogus or duplicate entries.
The gender split in the final list is tightly contested. Female voters now stand at 2,29,12,355, slightly edging out the 2,25,40,493 male voters. A small but notable group of 2,841 third-gender voters is also included in the rolls. The SEO office emphasized that these figures are now the official baseline for all electoral calculations and seat distribution.
Young voters make up a significant slice of this revised electorate. Over 6.83 lakh individuals in the 18-19 age bracket are now enrolled, a demographic that could swing local by-elections in competitive constituencies. The reduction in numbers reflects the strict verification protocols applied during the SIR phase, which was designed to ensure the integrity of the electoral database.
With the rolls finalized, the Election Commission of India will now proceed to use these figures for demarcating polling stations and planning logistical support. Political parties will closely scrutinize the regional breakdown of the 99.32 lakh deletions, looking for any anomalies that could affect their ground game in the upcoming assembly elections.