KTR questions ECI over voter registration, deletions

BRS working president KT Rama Rao questioned the functioning of the Election Commission of India, citing reported objections within the three-member poll panel. He also raised concerns over voter deletions during Telangana’s SIR and alleged a Congress-BJP-ECI nexus

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao raised fresh concerns over the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), calling for urgent steps to safeguard the country’s democratic institutions.

“We call ourselves the world’s largest democracy, but the institution meant to safeguard democracy is turning ‘almost autocratic’,” he said.

---

In a statement, Rama Rao questioned the decision-making process within the three-member poll panel. “Two out of three is a majority, or at least it used to be. Looks like the definition is changing now. When two of the three Election Commissioners themselves are repeatedly raising objections, it’s time to fix the EC,” he said.

The BRS working president also questioned the process of voter registration, deletion and restoration. “If decisions on voter registration, deletion and restoration are pushed through questionably, are we even a democracy anymore?” he asked.

He asserted that the fate of the country could not be decided by an institution whose foundations, he alleged, were eroding. He urged political parties, constitutional bodies, citizen forums and the Supreme Court to come together to “save what is left of the country’s democracy”.

KTR alleges Congress-BJP-ECI nexus over Telangana SIR

In a separate post on X on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Telangana, Rama Rao said he was not surprised that the highest number of voter deletions in Telangana were in BRS-won seats. He said the political contest in Telangana was now “KCR garu Vs All”.

He accused the Congress and BJP of forming an “unholy, illicit and undeclared alliance” to defeat the BRS, and alleged that the Election Commission now appeared to be joining them.

He said the BRS would fight the issue in courts and with the people, asserting that every illegally deleted vote would be added back. “There is only one SIR in Telangana, KCR Sir. No SIR can defeat the love people have for him,” he declared.

The ECI has been facing questions over the SIR process, while its own position is that differing views and observations are part of institutional deliberations and that its orders and decisions carry legal sanction.