The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) has alleged that there were more than 30 lakh bogus voters in the electoral list being prepared for conducting early elections in the state. The party also demanded that the Election Commission make details of deletions and additions to the voters list from 2015 to 2018, public.
Speaking to reporters at Gandhi Bhavan after a meeting of the TPCC Election Committee, Marri Shashidhar Reddy pointed out data released by the Election Commission itself, which said that more than 17 lakh voters had sought to be included into the voter list in the state within one week.
"We want a day-wise breakdown of the voters who have applied, along with details of how many have applied from each constituency. Such a large-scale enrolment is probably a first for the country," the Congress leader said.
The party also alleged discrepancies in the enrollment of voters. Citing the example of one house number in Hyderabad's Charminar constituency, Shashidhar claimed that 500 voters had been enrolled under that single address, asking the EC how it was taking action in such cases.
"How many more cases are there in the state? We have read reports of more than 100 votes being enrolled under one house. When such things are happening, how can we trust the voter enrollment?" the Congress leader asked.
Meanwhile, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) said that as per a draft list published on September 10, there were 38,61,009 voters registered under its limits, which included 20,17,448 male voters and 18,43,277 female voters.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the state Assembly on September 6 to pave way for early elections. The elections are likely to be held in November or December.
While the TRS has released its list of candidates, opposition parties in the state including the TDP, Congress, TJS and CPI have formed a grand alliance.