Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Friday, August 28, wrote to Chief Election Commissioner (CEO) Gyanesh Kumar, urging the Election Commission to extend the claims and objections period under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, amid concerns that the exercise could leave a large number of eligible voters out of the final rolls.
In his letter, CM Revanth said the verification process had placed particular stress on voters classified as “permanently shifted”. He cautioned that ordinary mobility, temporary absence and relocation for work or marriage should not become grounds for disenfranchisement.
According to the data furnished by the EC, Telangana had 3.38 crore electors as on June 10. Of these, 73.39 lakh entries, or 21.7%, have been classified under the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD) categories. Of the 2.65 crore enumeration forms digitised so far, 60.50 lakh have been flagged for anomalies and 32.36 lakh for lack of a link to the previous electoral roll.
Revanth said the two categories were distinct and together covered 92.86 lakh electors who would be required to respond to notices. He expressed particular concern over the ASDD list, noting that 45.19 lakh of the 73.39 lakh entries, nearly 62%, had been classified as “permanently shifted”.
The Chief Minister said the current methodology did not distinguish between temporary absence and permanent relocation. He also said genuine voters who had moved to another address were not being adequately assisted in enrolling at their new residence, while their names could be deleted from the previous roll.
He further raised concerns about the notice process, arguing that deletions under the “shifted” category did not receive the same formal notice mechanism as cases involving data anomalies or unmapped entries.
“This may result in eligible citizens discovering that they have been disenfranchised only when they reach the polling booth,” the letter said.
Revanth also pointed to the uneven distribution of the SIR workload. Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy account for about a third of Telangana’s electors but, according to the figures cited in the letter, account for 58.6% of ASDD entries and 41.9% of verification notices.
The Chief Minister said the high level of mobility in these urban districts, where short-term tenancies and frequent movement for employment are common, made it especially difficult for voters to maintain continuous proof of residence.
To address the existing concerns, CM Revanth asked that the claims and objections period, currently scheduled from August 17 to September 16, be extended by four weeks. The final publication of the roll is scheduled for October 19.
He also urged the Commission to direct District Election Officers to hold public readings of draft rolls at Gram Sabhas in villages and Ward Committee meetings in urban areas, at least twice during the process.
The Chief Minister sought three to four weeks for voters to respond to notices, instead of the existing short response period, particularly to help daily-wage workers, migrant workers and elderly voters who may need time to obtain documents from other districts or states.
Revanth also sought a wider and clearly defined list of admissible documents. He referred to the Commission’s August 11 decision not to accept Family Register Certificates issued under Telangana government Order No. 172 for SIR verification, and said many urban voters might not possess other documents currently accepted.
The Chief Minister further sought additional staff at the Electoral Registration Officer level and decentralised hearings to deal with the large number of cases. In Hyderabad, he said, the notice burden could exceed 78,000 cases per Assembly constituency.