Bengaluru, 30 June

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar on Tuesday said that the BLOs would deliver enumeration forms to all eligible voters under the SIR of electoral rolls, including those whose voter records are yet to be mapped, and urged people to return the filled-in forms by 29 July.

As the SIR exercise began on Tuesday, the CEO tried to clear doubts among people.

Speaking to reporters after receiving and submitting his own enumeration form at his residence, Anbukkumar said the month-long door-to-door distribution exercise had commenced across the state and appealed to voters to cooperate with BLOs.

"Even if a voter has not yet been mapped, the enumeration form will still be delivered to their house," he said.

The CEO clarified that voters were not required to submit any documents during the enumeration stage.

"Even I have not submitted any documents. At the enumeration stage, all voters only need to fill in the information already available in the 2002 electoral roll. That is all we are asking for," he said.

He also reiterated that submitting a photograph was not mandatory.

"It's not mandatory. However, if the existing photograph is old, please provide a new one," he said.

The officer added that BLOs could take a fresh photograph using their mobile phones if a voter did not have one readily available.

Anbukkumar said Karnataka has 5.56 crore voters, of whom more than 5.09 crore have already been mapped, while mapping of the remaining electors is in progress.

He said only those whose names figured in the electoral roll as of 16 June 2026 would receive enumeration forms at their registered addresses.

The CEO further said the qualifying date is 1 October 2026, and those attaining the age of 18 years by then could submit Form 6 for inclusion in the electoral roll.

"I welcome all new voters. Kindly enrol yourselves, and we will definitely add your names to the voter list," he said.

The Election Commission launched the house-to-house SIR exercise across Karnataka on Tuesday to prepare an updated electoral roll.

The door-to-door distribution of enumeration forms will continue until 29 July; the draft electoral roll will be published on August 5, and the final roll will be released on 7 October.