Clarifying that there will be no extension of the July 29 deadline for submission of completed forms for the census, District Electoral Officer and Deputy Commissioner Dharwad Snihala R said that as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines, the names of those voters who have not submitted the forms will not appear in the draft voter lists.
Addressing press persons in Dharwad on July 13, Ms. Snehal said that with two weeks left before the deadline, the district administration has intensified the distribution and collection of census forms (EF) under the Special Intensive Review (SIR).
“The door-to-door inspection carried out by booth officers (BLO) began on June 30. The deadline for submitting completed forms is July 29. According to the ECI, there will be no extension of the deadline,” she said.
The draft voter list is scheduled to be published on August 5.
The Deputy Commissioner said that once the draft voter list is published, an opportunity will be given to voters who may have erroneously entered incorrect details in the census form to correct the errors.
Voters will have time from August 5 to September 4 to correct errors and file objections. Review of objections will take place from August 5 to October 3. The final voter list will be published on October 7.
Ms. Snihal further clarified that there will be no new registrars in the voter list until the completion of the SIR process.
96.69% coverage in Dharwad district
The Deputy Commissioner said that so far the BLOs (Block Level Officers) in the district have distributed 15,19,544 ballot papers out of the total voters of 16,21,961, thus achieving a coverage of 96.69%. The administration plans to complete 100 per cent distribution of census forms in the next two days and has already digitized 20.58 per cent of the submitted forms.
20,499 voters are not tracked
To a question, she said that during the bypolls, 20,499 voters were not found by the PLO at their registered addresses. It was believed that they had moved to another location.
Hubballi-Dharwad East Assembly constituency has the highest number of such voters (16,0001), followed by Hubballi-Dharwad West (3,359) and Hubballi-Dharwad Central (1,067).
In addition, 7,242 voters were declared dead and 27,594 voters were declared to have permanently moved elsewhere. Hubballi-Dharwad West accounts for 15,057 permanently displaced voters, while Hubballi-Dharwad Central has 11,346 such voters.
She clarified that if such voters fail to appear at their polling stations and submit valid documents to support their claims, their names will not be included in the draft voter list.
To another question, she said that to help voters who faced difficulties in filling the forms, 452 voter assistance centers had been set up across the district. Voters could take help from BLO to fill out the forms.
Published – Jul 14, 2026 10:18 AM EST.