SIR jitters grip Telangana as 92.8 lakh voters face notices

The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has raised concerns among Telangana’s major political parties, with 92.8 lakh voters identified for notices. Parties fear genuine voters could be affected, while the slow rollout raises questions over meeting the October 15 deadline

Hyderabad: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has begun giving jitters to political parties in Telangana, with 92.8 lakh voters identified for notices. Parties have stepped up efforts to ensure that genuine voters are not left out. The concern is not merely administrative. Any large-scale deletion of eligible voters could alter the electoral balance in constituencies where margins are narrow.

The Congress, BJP and BRS are preparing to closely monitor the exercise and assist genuine voters in responding to notices. The parties are particularly wary of losing their existing vote bases during the revision and of the possibility of the electoral scales tilting in several constituencies.

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The BRS had already lodged a complaint with the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer, alleging that the Booth Level Agents (BLAs) were colluding with the ruling Congress, but ignoring the issues raised by opposition parties against bogus and fraudulent votes. BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan recently stated that party cadre were being attacked and even arrested under false cases for pointing out irregularities and fraudulent voter registration in several constituencies.

The concern is amplified by the slow pace of the notice process. Against 92.8 lakh voters identified for notices, only about 15 lakh notices have so far been prepared, while just 650 have been served, according to the Chief Electoral Officer’s office. Distribution is yet to begin in several areas, including Hyderabad.

The notices were identified after publication of the draft electoral roll on August 17. Of the 92.8 lakh voters, 60.5 lakh were found to have discrepancies in enumeration forms, while the details of another 32.3 lakh could not be mapped with the 2002 SIR electoral rolls.

The numbers are particularly significant in the Greater Hyderabad region. Hyderabad district alone has around 12.5 lakh voters requiring notices. Of them, around 5.8 lakh could not be mapped with the 2002 rolls, while discrepancies were found in the enumeration forms of another 6.72 lakh voters. Across Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Ranga Reddy districts, around 23.26 lakh voters have been identified as unmapped.

For political parties, this is where the exercise becomes politically sensitive. A genuine voter failing to establish the required details could potentially lose voting rights. In closely contested constituencies, even a relatively small shift in the voter list could affect the electoral arithmetic.

Notices are being issued over anomalies such as unusual age gaps between family members, inconsistencies in parents’ names and differences in family relationships. Mismatches with the 2002 electoral rolls are also being flagged. Minor spelling errors, however, are not expected to trigger serious action and can be corrected at the local level, officials said.

The language of notices is another logistical issue. Notices in rural areas are to be issued in Telugu, while those in Hyderabad are being prepared in English. Printing of Hyderabad notices is still under way.

The slow rollout has raised questions over whether the entire process can be completed within the October 15 deadline for claims and objections. The enumeration exercise itself had already required two extensions.