The discrepancies are part of a much larger churn. More than one crore voters — 19.4 per cent of Karnataka’s electorate — were removed from the state’s draft list published on 24 August.
The Election Commission has said notices will go out to 43 lakh people whose enumeration forms had anomalies or who could not be mapped to earlier rolls. Voters have until 23 September to file claims and objections, with appeals to be heard by 22 October and the final roll due out on 27 October.
Not everyone on the list, however, is being asked to stand in line.
After reports named Rao among those flagged, the Chief Electoral Officer’s office in Karnataka issued a clarification: no notice was physically served on him, and his name was added directly to the final rolls “noting his stature and contribution”, with officials visiting his residence to felicitate him.
Officials also visited Hajabba at home to collect documents and resolve his mismatch. Karnataka’s administration has said arrangements will similarly be made for elderly voters and persons with disabilities, so they do not have to travel to hearing centres.
Karnataka is one of 19 states and Union Territories undergoing the SIR process in its third phase, after Bihar in 2025 and a dozen more states and Union Territories in the second phase.
Critics have warned since the exercise began that it risks eliminating genuine voters — including, it now turns out, the very people whose names are meant to be unimpeachable.
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