Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress demanded that the Election Commission not delete electors merely because they failed to attend Special Intensive Revision hearings. TPCC Official Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin placed seven Telangana SIR demands before the Election Commission of India on Saturday. He also sought greater transparency over notices, discrepancies, Form-6 applications and electoral-roll software.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Nizamuddin said the scale of exclusions and notices required safeguards before preparation of the final rolls. The Congress demanded that officials inform every noticed elector about the exact discrepancy recorded against the name. It also sought an Assembly segment-wise break-up of all 11 categories of discrepancies.
In addition, the party sought daily Form-6 data on the Chief Electoral Officer’s website. It wanted figures showing applications received, accepted, rejected and pending. The Congress also demanded gender-wise data on the ASDD list, hearing absentees and restorations.
Furthermore, it sought recognition of the Telangana government’s new family certificate as a valid supporting document. The party also demanded an independent audit of the electoral-roll software.
“Not a single eligible voter should lose the right to vote merely because of a missed hearing, a spelling variation or a procedural problem,” Nizamuddin said.
Telangana SIR demands focus on 73.39 lakh excluded names
Nizamuddin said Telangana had 3.38 crore electors when the SIR began. However, the draft electoral roll contained about 2.65 crore names. He said authorities kept around 73.39 lakh electors out of the draft roll under the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate categories.
In addition, officials issued about 92.87 lakh notices. These included around 60.50 lakh notices involving discrepancies and 32.36 lakh concerning failure to map with the 2002 electoral rolls.
Nizamuddin said about 47 lakh noticees had not attended hearings. Another 7.41 lakh notices remained unserved, he added. “Missing a hearing cannot be treated as proof that a voter is dead, shifted, duplicate or ineligible,” he said.
He said work, migration, changed addresses or failure to understand a notice could prevent people from attending hearings. According to figures available with the party, only around 3,400 electors had ultimately been found ineligible after verification, Nizamuddin said.
The TPCC spokesperson also questioned the absence of a public break-up of the 11 categories of “logical discrepancies.” He claimed many cases involved spelling or name variations rather than substantive eligibility issues.
Congress seeks daily disclosure of Form-6 applications
Nizamuddin said authorities had received only about 4.4 lakh Form-6 applications against 73.39 lakh names excluded from the draft roll. He put the proportion at about six per cent.
“This shows that merely giving people a restoration route is not enough. The Election Commission must disclose how many applications are being received, accepted, rejected and kept pending every day,” he said.
Nizamuddin said tenants, migrant workers, poor families and women faced some of the greatest difficulties during the revision. He particularly referred to Hyderabad and neighbouring urban districts.
He also questioned the rejection of the State government’s new family certificate during hearings. Consequently, the Congress demanded its recognition as a valid supporting document. The Telangana SIR demands also covered the software used to manage electoral rolls.
Referring to reports about internal objections within the Election Commission, Nizamuddin raised questions about voter registration procedures and database controls.
He sought clarity on whether local Electoral Registration Officers retained full authority over additions and deletions. He also questioned whether software controls operating from Delhi could restrict such changes.
In addition, Nizamuddin sought disclosure on whether Telangana’s Form-6 process included additional questions linked to the 2002 SIR. He also asked whether any request for an electoral-roll software audit had gone unanswered.
Telangana SIR demands to be raised at CWC meeting
Nizamuddin said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy would raise Telangana’s SIR concerns at the Congress Working Committee meeting in New Delhi on September 29. “The Chief Minister is not going to Delhi with a political complaint. He is going with the Election Commission’s own figures,” he said.
According to Nizamuddin, the Chief Minister had turned Telangana’s experience into a national question concerning voting rights. He said the Congress would formulate a statewide protest programme after the CWC deliberations.
Nizamuddin also raised concerns about the eventual size of the electoral roll. He said roughly 47 lakh electors had not attended hearings. If authorities eventually excluded a substantial number of them, the electoral roll could fall to around 2.2 crore, he said.
Therefore, he demanded that the Election Commission publish its projection of the likely final electorate before freezing the rolls. He also sought complete figures on additions, deletions, restorations and pending cases.
“The Congress supports removal of genuine duplicate, deceased and ineligible entries. But an eligible citizen cannot lose an existing vote because of a software flag, an unserved notice or failure to attend a hearing,” Nizamuddin said.