Despite being an IT hub, Bengaluru lags behind in digitizing electoral rolls
Despite being the IT hub of the country, Bengaluru is lagging behind several districts in digitizing the Enumeration Forms (EF) under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In a bid to expedite the exercise, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has deployed four senior officers to monitor progress and strengthen quality checks in the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) region.
Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar told The Hindu that the officers were tasked to review digitization, identify bottlenecks and support district election officials in improving the pace of the exercise.
“Their role is to monitor the digitization work, check the progress and provide support whenever necessary. However, the responsibility of the exercise continues to lie with the Deputy Commissioners and District Election Officers,” he said.
Official data as of Thursday showed that the GBA region accounted for 27.65 lakh ASDDO (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others) cases, while only about 34.29% of the Enumeration Forms were digitized.
The region recorded 5.28 million voters classified as absent, 19.43 million voters as shifted, 2.56 million voters as dead, 31,164 as duplicate and 6,249 in the “others” category.
Several assembly constituencies in Bengaluru require closer monitoring in terms of digitization. These include Bommanahalli, Vijayanagar, Gandhinagar, Shanti Nagar, Rajajinagar, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Govindarajanagar, CV Raman Nagar, Basavanagudi, BTM Layout, Chickpet, Dasarahalli, Jayanagar, KR Puram, Malleswaram, Hegalbmi and South Saragar, Bengalbmi and South Saragar, Bengali Layout.
In contrast, rural constituencies like Mayakonda, Hangal, Chickballapur, Yemkanmardi, Navalgund, Karkala, Sorab, Kumta, Honnali, Bagepalli, Sagar, Channagiri, Melukote, Bailhongal, Harihar, Shiggaon, Hirekerur, Arsikere, Tirthahalli recorded higher levels of comparative digitization.
Urban challenges
Mr. Anbu Kumar said Bengaluru’s slower progress was largely due to problems in reaching voters in a large urban center.
“In Bengaluru, reaching voters is more difficult due to housing complexes, gated communities and accessibility of residents at home. These factors affect both collection and digitization of forms,” he said.
He said election officials in many rural areas were more familiar with local communities, making it easier to contact voters and complete the exercise.
Officers assigned
To improve the pace of digitisation, the Election Commission has allotted specific assembly constituencies to senior officers for closer monitoring.
While Joint CEO V. Raghavendra was given the task of overseeing Gandhinagar, Shanti Nagar, Rajajinagar, Rajarajeshwarinagar and Chickpet, Joint CEO S. Yogeshwar was given the task of CV Raman Nagar, KR Puram, Malleswaram, Mahalakshmi Layout, Sarvagnanagar and Hebbal.
Likewise, Deputy Director General Vandana Bhat has been given the task of monitoring Bommanahalli, Vijayanagar, Govindarajanagar, Basavanagudi, BTM Layout, Jayanagar and Padmanabhanagar. Senior consultant PS Vastrad has been assigned Dasarahalli and Bengaluru South.
Apart from checking the progress, the officers will ensure proper scanning of photographs and signatures of voters, verify ASDDO classification and verify objections raised by political parties, he said.
The next phase
Mr. Kumar said the distribution of enumeration forms across Karnataka has been completed for all 55,432,314 voters. The next phase will involve collecting the filled-in forms from the voters and digitizing them within the stipulated time.
“Distribution was one of the major tasks. Another big task is to collect the filled forms from the voters and ensure that they are digitized,” he said.
With around 17 days left for the revision, election officials will intensify efforts to complete the collection and digitization process across the state, he added.
Published – 23 Jul 2026 20:40 IST