Revanth Reddy’s dual voter entry: Congress govt’s deleted clarification raises eyebrows

The Telangana government's now-deleted social media post describing Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's dual voter registration as an electoral roll anomaly has sparked political debate, with questions being raised over the government's role in issuing a clarification that falls under the Election Commission's domain

Hyderabad: The State government’s admission that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy‘s name was enrolled in two Assembly constituencies, coupled with its clarification in the name of the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer that it was an electoral roll anomaly, has raised eyebrows among political circles.

‘FactCheck_Telangana’, the official handle of the State government’s initiative on X, issued the statement on Tuesday, a day after ‘Telangana Today’ reported that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was enrolled as a voter in two Assembly constituencies falling under two different Parliamentary constituencies.

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The electoral rolls show Revanth Reddy as a voter in Kodangal Assembly constituency under Mahabubnagar Parliamentary constituency. His name also appears in Achampet Assembly constituency under Nagarkurnool Parliamentary constituency. Both entries carry the same EPIC number, TES0274035.

The ‘FactCheck_Telangana’ statement attributed the clarification to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Telangana. However, the CEO’s office did not carry any such clarification or statement on any of its social media handles. And very inexplicably, the post on X was deleted within hours of its posting.

This development has sparked discussions among political circles over how the State government could issue a clarification on a matter that fell in the domain of the Chief Electoral Officer or the Election Commission

In its post on X, ‘FactCheck_Telangana’ maintained that the “Electoral Commission” (sic) had clarified that the appearance of the Chief Minister’s name in two electoral rolls with the same EPIC number was an “electoral roll anomaly” that was being addressed through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). According to the statement, officials said the duplicate entry was among the anomalies being identified and removed during the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls.

The statement (now deleted) said the correction would be carried out by the District Election Officer concerned in accordance with the Election Commission of India’s prescribed procedures. It also said electoral authorities had clarified that the presence of the same EPIC number in two electoral rolls did not, by itself, establish that a person was entitled to vote in two constituencies. “The Chief Minister’s family has informed the electoral authorities that they wish to retain the voter registration in Kodangal constituency. They have requested deletion of the entry from the Kondareddypally electoral roll,” the statement maintained.

Officials added that the SIR exercise was intended to identify and rectify duplicate, outdated and erroneous entries in the electoral rolls, including cases where voters remained enrolled at more than one place due to migration or failure to update their records.