Karnataka SIR flags 716 suspected foreign nationals in electoral rolls

Bengaluru, Oct 29 : Karnataka's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has identified 716 individuals reported to be non-Indian citizens for removal from the voters' list, including 545 Nepalese nationals in Bengaluru North. However, it remains unclear whether any of them had cast votes in previous elections.

The findings have raised questions about how these individuals were enrolled in the electoral rolls, whether their citizenship status was verified during registration and whether any had exercised their voting rights.

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar confirmed that foreign nationals had been detected during the revision, stating that the number was below 1,000.

District-wise data show that Dakshina Kannada recorded 40 such cases, including 17 Nepalese citizens, six each from Australia and the United States, five from Canada, two from Britain and one each from the Netherlands, South Africa, Ireland and Norway.

Uttara Kannada reported 22 cases involving citizens of Nepal, Pakistan, the United States and Bangladesh, while Udupi recorded 47 individuals belonging to countries including Nepal, the US, Britain, France and Canada.

The findings come against the backdrop of Karnataka's final electoral roll, which contains around 4.55 crore electors following the SIR exercise. Nearly one crore names were removed during the revision, according to reported figures.

However, the identification of 716 individuals does not, by itself, establish that all of them were confirmed foreign citizens at the time of enrolment or that any had cast votes in previous elections.

Under Indian law, foreign citizens are ineligible to register as electors. Establishing whether any such individuals exercised voting rights would require separate verification of electoral records.

The Election Commission has stated that states were not specifically instructed to maintain separate data on suspected foreign nationals identified during the revision exercise.

The Election Commission and Karnataka election authorities are yet to provide a detailed account of the 716 cases, including their verification status, the circumstances under which they were enrolled and whether any instances of voting by ineligible persons were detected.