GBA civic polls: Draft electoral rolls released
Objection window to remain open until February 6 for voters to ensure their names are correct in draft rolls
Bengaluru: The State Election Commission on Monday released the draft electoral rolls for elections to five municipal corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA). The publication of the draft list marks a key step towards holding long-pending civic elections in the city. State Election Commissioner G.S. Sangreshi, along with commissioners of all five city corporations, announced that the objection window will open from Monday and remain open until February 6. During this period, voters can check whether their names appear correctly in the draft rolls and raise objections if discrepancies are found.
Voters can seek inclusion of missing names, deletion of ineligible entries, or correction of errors related to spelling, age, gender or address. To ensure accuracy, Booth Level Officers will conduct door-to-door verification starting Monday as part of a comprehensive roll purification drive.
There are three ways to submit objections. Voters can approach the BLO assigned to their area during house visits, visit the concerned Assistant Electoral Registration Officer office, or contact the respective city corporation office and submit the prescribed forms along with supporting documents. Aadhaar card or voter ID, address proof and date-of-birth documents are mandatory, depending on the nature of the correction sought. According to provisional figures released by the Election Commission, the total electorate across the five GBA corporations stands at 88,91,411. Of these, 45,69,193 are men, 43,20,583 are women and 1,635 belong to other categories. Bengaluru West accounts for the largest share of voters with over 27.25 lakh electors, followed by Bengaluru North with 19.54 lakh. Bengaluru South has 17.44 lakh voters, Bengaluru Central 14.25 lakh and Bengaluru East 10.41 lakh. In total, elections will be held across 369 wards with 8,044 polling stations.
Election officials indicated that once objections are addressed and the final electoral rolls are published, the Commission will move ahead with the poll schedule. Sources said elections to the GBA municipal corporations are likely after May 25.
The Commission has appealed to citizens to verify their details without delay, stressing that an accurate voters’ list is crucial for free and fair civic elections.
