Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to extend the schedule for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state by four weeks, in the wake of concern over possible deletion of a large number of voters during the verification.
In a letter to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the chief minister said the SIR exercise had reached a critical stage, with 7.3 million entries, or 21.7% of the state’s 33.8 million electors, being classified under absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) categories. He also pointed out that, of the 26.5 million enumeration forms digitised so far, 6.05 million had been flagged for anomalies and another 3.2 million for lack of a link to the earlier electoral roll. The chief minister said the verification burden was disproportionately high in Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts, which together account for 58.6% of ASDD entries and 41.9% of verification notices.
Of these, 4.5 million entries were classified as “permanently shifted,” he said. “The two categories were distinct and together accounted for 92.86 lakh (9.28 million) electors who would have to respond to notices,” he said. Revanth Reddy said the verification process had structural shortcomings, including failure to distinguish between temporary absence and permanent relocation, inadequate assistance to genuine voters who had shifted residence, and exclusion of “shifted” voters from the statutory notice mechanism. Revanth Reddy said the state government was willing to provide logistical support to the ECI, including helpdesks, mobilisation for gram sabhas and ward committee meetings, and voter awareness activities. Earlier reporting noted: “The SIR in Telangana has now reached a stage where the numbers themselves invite the commission’s attention,” Revanth said in the letter. Earlier reporting noted: The chief minister described the composition of the ASDD list as a matter of “grave concern”, pointing out that 45.1 lakh of the 73.3 lakh flagged entries, nearly 62%, had been classified as “permanently shifted”.
Earlier reporting noted: Hyderabad: With nearly one in every three Telangana voters set to face scrutiny under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to extend the claims and objections period by four weeks, warning that lakhs of eligible electors risk being left out of the final rolls.
