Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is set to raise concerns over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral roll in Telangana at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Delhi on September 29. The party is expected to chalk out a nationwide protest programme against “vote chori” and the SIR exercise in the wake of recent revelations that have cast a shadow over the functioning of the Election Commission of India.
Official sources said Revanth is expected to submit a detailed report on the SIR process in Telangana and propose a series of protest programmes in the state, highlighting structural flaws in the Election Commission’s verification process and their impact on genuine voters.
The report being prepared for the CWC will point out that 92,87,577 voters in Telangana had notices generated under the SIR exercise, of whom 85.46 lakh had been served notices by September 25. Around 38 lakh voters who received notices had appeared for hearings and submitted their details, while nearly 47 lakh had not appeared. Officials are expected to issue fresh notices to those who did not attend the hearings. Another 7.41 lakh voters are yet to be served notices.
According to the data being compiled for the report, Telangana has 3,38,26,448 voters. Of these, 2,64,87,213 submitted enumeration forms, while 73,39,235 voters were placed in the ‘absentee, shifted, dead and duplicate’ (ASDD) category.
The report said 60,50,918 voters had discrepancies or ambiguities in their forms, while 32,36,659 voters could not be mapped with the 2002 electoral rolls during the SIR. So far, around 3,400 voters have been declared ineligible after scrutiny of the documents and evidence submitted citing reasons including use of morphed photographs and failure to submit details.
Sources said Revanth Reddy would bring to the notice of the CWC that the scale of verification and the documentation requirements could disproportionately affect economically and socially disadvantaged sections, particularly citizens who may find it difficult to produce additional documents to establish their eligibility.
He is also expected to flag the removal of a larger number of women than men from the electoral rolls, contending that the process could place a greater burden on sections with limited access to documents, official records and administrative processes.
The Chief Minister was likely to point out that the SIR has effectively shifted the burden of proving electoral eligibility onto citizens, requiring them to furnish additional documentation to retain their names on the rolls. He is expected to stress that genuine voters could face difficulties if they fail to respond to notices or are unable to produce the documents sought during the verification process.
The report will also flag the large number of voters who have not appeared for hearings despite receiving notices. Of the 85.46 lakh voters served notices, around 47 lakh had not appeared for the hearing as of September 25.
Meanwhile, 4.4 lakh applications for inclusion of names through Form-6 had been received by September 25. Sources said the number of voters in the final electoral roll could fall below three crore after completion of the SIR process, particularly after accounting for voters in the ASDD category and those who do not respond to notices or provide the required details.
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