Karnataka SIR 2026: Preliminary Report on Electoral Roll Deletions

This preliminary report by Sabar Institute presents a comprehensive analysis of Karnataka's 2026 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, examining 10,824,651 electors placed on the Absentee, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD) list across all 224 Assembly constituencies and 31 districts. These entries represent approximately 20.4% of the state's 2023 electorate.

Drawing on Election Commission of India records, Assembly election results, Census data and district-level economic indicators, the study investigates patterns of electoral roll deletions across geography, age, gender, religion, caste composition, income and political constituencies.

The findings reveal substantial geographical and demographic disparities. Bengaluru Urban accounts for 44% of all deletions despite containing only 18% of the state's electors. Women aged 18–29 are disproportionately represented among non-death deletions, while 42.7% of third-gender electors on the 2023 roll appear on the ASDD list. The analysis also identifies differences in recorded deletion reasons among Muslim-named electors and associations between deletion rates, district income and social composition.

The report includes constituency-level profiles for all 224 Assembly seats, examining deletion reasons, demographic characteristics and electoral margins. It highlights areas requiring greater administrative transparency, independent verification and safeguards to protect electoral inclusion.

Authors: Sabir Ahamed, Ashin Chakraborty and Souptik Halder.

Published by: Sabar Institute, 2026.