Hyderabad, Sept 27: The Telangana Congress has set seven demands on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The party wants safeguards against deletion of eligible voters during the revision process.
TPCC spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin raised the demands at a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday.
He said missing an SIR hearing alone should not become a ground for deleting a voter.
Telangana SIR Faces Congress Demands for Safeguards
The Congress demanded that every notice clearly state the discrepancy recorded against the concerned elector.
It also sought an Assembly segment wise break up of all 11 discrepancy categories.
The party demanded daily Form 6 data on the Chief Electoral Officer’s website.
The data should show applications received, accepted, rejected and pending, it said.
The Congress also sought gender wise figures for the ASDD list, hearing absentees and restored voters.
It demanded recognition of the Telangana government’s new family certificate as a supporting document.
The party further sought an independent audit of the software used for electoral roll management.
Nizamuddin said Telangana had 3.38 crore electors when the SIR began.
The draft roll contained about 2.65 crore names, according to election authorities.
Around 73.39 lakh electors were excluded from the draft roll under the ASDD categories.
These categories include absent, shifted, dead and duplicate or already enrolled voters.
The election authorities also identified about 92.87 lakh electors with discrepancies or without links to the 2002 electoral roll.
Nizamuddin said around 47 lakh noticees had not attended their hearings.
He also claimed that about 7.41 lakh notices remained unserved.
Recent reports have also highlighted delays in notice delivery and hearings during the SIR process.
Nizamuddin said failure to attend a hearing could occur because of work, migration or address changes.
He argued that absence from a hearing should not itself establish that a voter is dead, shifted, duplicate or ineligible.
The Congress also questioned the lack of a public break up of the 11 logical discrepancy categories.
Nizamuddin claimed many discrepancies involved spelling and name variations rather than eligibility issues.
He said only about 4.4 lakh Form 6 applications had been received against the 73.39 lakh names excluded from the draft roll.
He argued that voters needed easier restoration procedures and greater transparency on applications.
The party also raised concerns about tenants, migrant workers, women and poor families in urban areas.
Nizamuddin questioned the rejection of the Telangana government’s new family certificate during hearings.
He also sought clarity on software controls used for additions and deletions in electoral rolls.
The Congress wants the Election Commission to clarify whether local Electoral Registration Officers retain full authority over such changes.
It also sought details on whether software controls from outside Telangana can restrict electoral roll changes.
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.
He said the Congress would formulate a statewide protest programme after the CWC discussions.
The party also demanded publication of figures showing additions, deletions, restorations and pending cases before the final rolls are prepared.
The Election Commission has already revised the Telangana SIR schedule, with claims and objections extended to October 7 and final electoral rolls now scheduled for November 9.
The Congress said it supports removal of genuine duplicate, deceased and ineligible entries but wants safeguards to prevent eligible voters from being excluded through procedural issues.
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