SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Hyderabad: Pointing out that about 92.86 lakh voters stand to lose out their right to vote, Telangana Chief Minister (CM) A Revanth Reddy has written to the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sudarshan Reddy and the Chief Election Commissioner of India Gyanesh Kumar seeking an extension of four weeks of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The CM also stated that the entire SIR load in Telangana is also distributed “very unevenly”.
The CM in a letter has requested the CEO to extend the current date for final publication of the electoral rolls which is October 19, 2026 with less than a month remaining to raise objections. “I would request that this period be extended by four weeks, so that electors whose names are missing from the draft roll – the ASDD class particularly -have a sufficient time to find out where they stand and to file Form 6 claims. Since no election is due in Telangana in the near future, such extension may kindly be considered,” said Revanth Reddy,
In a lengthy letter to the CEO and the Election Commission of India (ECI), Revanth Reddy said that the SIR in Telangana has reached a stage where the numbers themselves “invite the Commission’s attention”. He pointed out that against the roll of 3.38 crore electors as on June 6, 2026, about 73.39 lakh entries (21.7 per cent) have been placed under the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASSD) heads.
“Out of the 2.65 crore enumeration forms digitised so far, 60.50 lakh stand flagged for anomalies and 32.36 lakh for want of a link to the earlier roll. The two sets are distinct and do not overlap; they add up to 92.86 lakh and each of those electors is to be put on notice. Stated plainly, something close to one third electorate of the State must now either prove its entitlement afresh or lose its place on the final roll,” he alarmingly pointed out.
ASSD grave concern, Hyderabad Medchal-Malkajgiri and Ranga Reddy dists account for 58.6 percent: CM to ECI
The Telangana CM also pointed out that Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts hold a third of the state’s electors between them, but that 58.6 percent of all ASDD entries and 41.9 percent of all verification notices are from the districts. “These are the very districts in which tenancies are short, work draws families across ward and district boundaries several times in a decade, and a continuous paper record of residence is hardest to assemble,” he stated.
Moreover, the Telangana CM also told the ECU that the ASSD list is a matter of “grave concern” as of the 73.39 lakh flagged entries, 45.19 lakh (nearly 62%) are classified as permanently shifted. He added that the current verification methodology suffers from critical structural flaws” and that in the ongoing SIR process there is no distinction between Temporary Absence and Permanent Relocation. “A voter who was simply at work, traveling, or temporarily away when the Booth Level Officer (BLO) visited is treated identically to someone who has permanently relocated,” he said in his letter.
The CM also said that lectors who have actually moved were given no assistance to file application for enrolling as voters at new address, yet their names are routinely marked for deletion at their previous residence. Similarly, deletions under the ‘shifted’ category bypass formal notice procedures entirely-notices are issued only for data anomalies or unmapped entries. “Consequently, a large number of eligible citizens are systematically denied natural justice and will likely discover their disenfranchisement only when they are turned away at the polling booth on election day,” stated Revanth Reddy.
Set up help desks, set list of documents for voters: Revanth Reddy to Telangana CEO
The Telangana CM appealed to the ECI to also have public reading of the draft rolls, to allow a reasonable period to reply to notices, to open help desks, and to also set a list of documents that electors can actually obtain to use for the SIR.
“The Commission has held, by its letter No. 23/SIR/TEL/2026-SS-III dated 11.08.2026, that the Family Register Certificate issued under G.O. Ms. No. 172 dated 25.07.2026 will not be accepted in SIR verification. While the Commission has given certain reasons for the same, its practical consequence in the urban districts, however, is that a significantly vast number of electors may not possess any of the other admissible documents. I would therefore request that a widened and clearly enumerated list of admissible documents be notified for the State, which shall include papers obtainable at the mandal level at short notice, so that Electoral Registration Officers apply a single standard and no elector is turned back for want of a document,” said the CM.
Revanth Reddy pointed out that even though additional Electoral Registration Officers have been appointed, but the numbers sanctioned will not “answer the volume of notice to be served and heard”. He pointed out that in Hyderabad district, the notice load works out to upwards of 78, 000 cases for each Assembly Constituency for the SIR and the prescribed form of notice calls the elector to appear in person before hearings.
“I would request that Additional Electoral Registration Officers be sanctioned in sufficient strength, and that hearings be permitted at decentralised points below the ERO level with staggered dates and times printed on the notice itself, particularly across Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy, which carry the greater part of the State’s electoral base. The objective of the whole exercise is to ensure that not a single eligible elector is left out of the rolls and no ineligible voter is included,” he said.
SOURCE : SIASAT
