SCB polls: KTR seeks Defence Minister’s intervention in restoring names of 35,000 electors

It was a completely illegal and unconstitutional act as no show cause notice was given to them before deleting the names, said KT Rama Rao

Hyderabad: The MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday wrote to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seeking immediate intervention in restoring the names of 35,000 electors who were deleted from eight wards of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) and help them participate in the democratic exercise of voting. The elections for the board members are to be held on April 30.

Stating that SCB has deleted these names from the voters’ list on the ground that they allegedly encroached on the defence land, Rama Rao said that it was a completely illegal and unconstitutional act as no show cause notice was given to them before deleting the names.

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The MA&UD Minister said these electors and their families have been residing in SCB limits over the past 75 years. “Such incidents are intimidating these electors as the act is indirectly or directly posing a threat to their identity, while they are very much the citizens of India who are residing in Telangana,” he said.

The Minister said the voters from SCB have been sincere in executing all their duties which include payment of electricity and water bills and have been exercising their right to vote in various elections including SCB elections, Assembly elections, and also Parliamentary elections.

Rama Rao said the relevant law relating to the preparation of the voter list for a Cantonment is contained in Sections 27 and 28 of the Cantonment Act. Stating that he firmly believes that none of the electors breached these sections but were unfortunately being penalized by removing their names from the voters’ list arbitrarily, he said that so far, no court in the country gave a judgment that declares any of these individuals to be a non-resident of the SCB.

“The SCB cannot snatch away the right to vote and the right to contest in the election. By removing the names of the voters from the list, SCB has outrightly violated Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” he said.

Under such unconstitutional circumstances, it was unfortunate to see SCB walk backward when it comes to recognizing its voters. “With pain, I state that there has been no increase in voter numbers in SCB since 5 years. In 2018, 1,91,849 voters have now been reduced to 1,32,722 voters,” Rama Rao said seeking immediate intervention of the Union Defence Minister in resolving the issue.