TIRUMALA: In a major purge of the electoral rolls, the Tirupati District revenue authorities have identified and filtered out approximately 2.5 lakh bogus votes.
The massive clean-up has been executed as part of the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive, which is aimed at purifying voter lists across the country.
While the administrative verification of this data has been completed, a formal announcement is strictly embargoed until Tuesday,when a top election official is scheduled to address a press conference.
According to sources, this massive volume of anomalies traces back to an electoral scam unearthed just before the recent general elections. At the time, leaders of the then-ruling party allegedly manipulated the electoral rolls in Tirupati by unauthorisedly accessing the system using the official login credentials of an IAS officer.The breach led to a major controversy, resulting in the subsequent suspension of the concerned IAS officer.The ongoing Phase 3 of the SIR drive was specifically weaponised to catch such discrepancies, systematically flagging duplicate entries, deceased voters, and permanently shifted or untraceable individuals.
Speaking to the TNIE, Tirupati District Collector Venkateswar stated that genuine voters whose names may have been inadvertently left out or flagged during the draft roll revision need not panic.
“In case of genuine electors, one should simply apply along with the concerned valid documents.
There is no need to run from pillar to post; their names will duly appear in the final list,” Venkateswar said.He clarified that even those among the flagged 2.5 lakh entries have the option to reapply with valid proof, ensuring that only genuine, legitimate voters remain on the final roll.
Affected citizens who wish to verify their status or submit fresh inclusion claims can do so online via the National Voters’ Service Portal (NVSP) or by coordinating directly with their local Booth Level Officers (BLOs).