Over 2.9 lakh voters unmapped in Belagavi, officials step up revision drive

Belagavi: Concerns are mounting in Belagavi district as details of nearly 2.9 lakh voters remain unmapped during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, raising questions about their inclusion in the final voter list. Of the unmapped electorate, over 1.1 lakh voters belong to urban constituencies. The highest number is in Belagavi North assembly constituency, where 71,293 voters remain unmapped, followed by Belagavi South with 42,964 voters. Election officials are continuing the revision exercise to update and verify records before publication of the final rolls. The large number of unmapped voters has sparked concern among stakeholders, who fear eligible voters could be left out if discrepancies are not resolved in time.

Belagavi district has the highest number of 18 assembly constituencies in the state. There are 41,22,869 voters in these constituencies, including 20,68,398 women and 20,54,276 men. Apart from these, 195 third-gender voters are listed. These voters fall under the jurisdiction of 4,525 polling stations. While 38,22,990 voters have been mapped, 2,99,870 are facing issues due to lack of mapping documents.

Mapping is being carried out using the 2001 voter list, and many names have gone missing from this database. The absence of records has created significant hurdles in the process.

Rohit J, a resident of Shahu Nagar, said the electoral roll consolidation aimed at eliminating fake and deceased voters and improving accuracy is welcome. However, since the 2001 voter list forms the basis for mapping, missing records of senior family members make verification difficult. Many eligible voters are being left out due to mismatch of documents.

Officials said block-level officers (BLOs) will visit houses from June 30 to July 29. Voters must submit one of the 12 documents specified by the Election Commission along with a self-attested declaration form. Those failing to provide information will be marked under the absentee category. Once removed, re-enrolment in the voter list will be difficult. The draft voter list will be published on Aug 5, disposal of objections will continue till Oct 3, and the final list will be released on Oct 7.

Voters abroad

Survey findings indicate that some voters left out of the mapping list are currently residing abroad, while others have migrated to cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. These individuals have not deleted their names from the voter list. More than 50,000 voters from other states and abroad are residing in Belagavi.

Deputy commissioner Mohammad Roshan said voters whose identities have not been mapped will be given another opportunity to register. If valid information is provided, their names will be included in the voter list.