— Karnataka election officials are reviewing name and parentage mismatches identified during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, with cases involving the family of Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and Zerodha founders Nikhil and Nithin Kamath.
Officials in Bengaluru South and the Kanakapura assembly constituency said the exercise has created confusion in some cases because voters with similar names were listed in the same electoral part. They said the verification process is continuing and disputed reports about notices being served to some prominent individuals did not accurately reflect the records.
In Kanakapura, officials said three voters named Gowramma are listed in part number 249. The chief minister’s mother, Gowramma, wife of Kempegowda, appears at serial number one with EPIC number ZVG4032298. Election officers said notices were issued to the other two voters with the same name, while the chief minister’s mother was not served a notice.
“The confusion arose from names with similar spellings. Reports on the visual media are not factually correct,” an election officer said, according to the Bengaluru South district election administration.
The verification of Nilekani and his family was completed on Thursday, officials said. Notices had been generated under the no-mapping category for the family, which is enrolled in Koramangala under the BTM Layout assembly constituency. Since Nilekani was classified as a VIP voter, a booth-level officer visited his residence to complete the process.
Nilekani’s staff asked for copies of the notices before submitting documents, including details of the family’s enrolment in the 2002 electoral rolls. The booth-level officer subsequently delivered the notices, returned to collect the documents and completed the verification, officials said.
The status of the Kamath family’s records remained under review. Ramesh KN, additional district election officer for Bengaluru South, said officials from the Bengaluru South City Corporation and the urban district administration contacted Revathi Kamath after reports emerged that notices had been issued to her sons, Nikhil and Nithin Kamath. She told officials that the family had not received any notices.
“We are verifying whether notices were generated in their names,” Ramesh said. The three members of the Kamath family have been flagged in Bengaluru South over a mismatch involving their parents’ names, according to officials cited in the report.
The cases follow earlier verification-related attention involving Bharat Ratna awardee C N R Rao and actor Shivarajkumar. Election officials said the prominent individuals involved in the current cases were not required to appear at BBMP offices; verification was instead carried out through the relevant electoral officers and submitted documents.
