SIR: CEO Karnataka website mandates EPIC details, relative’s name, to view 2002 rolls

With the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls under way, the CEO Karnataka’s website, which allows voters to access legacy electoral rolls — the 2002 rolls — has made the EPIC number, voter’s name or a relative’s name mandatory to view or download the rolls. Alongside EPIC details, the Assembly constituency name or number and district should also be submitted. 

Earlier, users could search and download electoral rolls using details such as the Assembly constituency, State, polling station number, and the voter’s name.

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar defended the move, saying it was introduced because there were “too many downloads” and the website was experiencing a “high number of hits”. “Many people were complaining that they could not access the rolls and that the website was showing glitches. So we made these details mandatory to streamline the procedure,” he said. 

However, entering the required details does not guarantee that the correct electoral roll will be found. Users may still have to manually browse multiple rolls because of historical digitisation errors, changes in Assembly boundaries following the 2008 delimitation, and gaps in the online database. In many cases, even when the correct details are entered, the website fails to return the relevant record.

Following the change, citizen groups have questioned the rationale behind restricting access. They have asked how the new requirements streamline the process if users are still unable to locate the required rolls. 

The groups also argue that making these details mandatory makes it harder for volunteers and others assisting voters. Locating the 2002 electoral roll is already a common challenge, as there is no single searchable database. Instead, users must navigate multiple electoral roll PDFs within the same Assembly constituency, and there is no option to search directly by name.