Revanth seeks 4-week extension of T’gana SIR

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. Of these, 4.5 million entries were classified as “permanently shifted,” he said.

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 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.

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.

He proposed six measures to the ECI, including extension of the period for claims and objections by four weeks beyond the deadline of September 16 and holding public readings of draft electoral rolls at gram sabhas and ward committee meetings at least twice in villages and municipal wards.

Revanth Reddy also asked the ECI to allow three to four weeks for voters to respond to notices, instead of one week; open helpdesks, particularly in urban districts, to assist voters with notices and documentation and notify a wider, clearly defined list of admissible documents, including those that can be obtained at the mandal level.

He suggested strengthening of the Electoral Registration Officer-level capacity by appointing additional EROs and allowing decentralised hearings, particularly in Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy.

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.’

Srinivasa Rao is Senior Assistant Editor based out of Hyderabad covering developments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana . He has over three decades of reporting experience.