Karnataka HC questions SEC's parallel voter roll revision amid ECI's SIR

The Karnataka High Court on Monday questioned the State Election Commission's (SEC) decision to undertake a separate Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in select wards of Bengaluru's Mahadevapura assembly constituency when the Election Commission of India (ECI) is already carrying out the exercise nationwide.

Hearing a writ petition filed by five Bengaluru residents, Justice Suraj Govindaraj sought to know the rationale behind the SEC's decision to conduct a parallel revision exercise and incur public expenditure on it. The matter was adjourned after the court sought further clarification.

On July 8, the court had issued notices to the state government, the ECI and the SEC, seeking their responses to the petition challenging the SEC's direction to conduct a separate SIR in select civic wards.


The petition comes ahead of elections to Bengaluru's five city corporations, which the state government has been directed by the Supreme Court to hold by December this year.

The petitioners argued that there is no justification for a separate voter verification exercise when the ECI is already conducting a door-to-door enumeration as part of its nationwide SIR.

They have challenged the SEC's directions to the state government to undertake a separate revision of electoral rolls for specified municipal wards under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).

According to the petition, the ECI froze the Assembly electoral rolls as of June 16, 2026, and its nationwide SIR is scheduled to conclude with the publication of the final electoral rolls on October 7. The SEC's move, the petition contended, has resulted in two simultaneous revision exercises covering the same electorate, creating duplication and avoidable expenditure.