HYDERABAD: Nearly 90 lakh electors in Telangana have been flagged with discrepancies during a pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise undertaken ahead of the comprehensive revision of electoral rolls, Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sudarshan Reddy said on Saturday.
According to the CEO, around 89.88 lakh electors were found to have anomalies after election authorities cross-verified approximately 2.38 crore mapped voters against electoral data from the 2002 rolls.
Telangana currently has 3.38 crore registered voters.
Officials said the majority of the discrepancies are minor and can be resolved through verification hearings, scrutiny of documents and field-level checks.
“In cases involving minor anomalies, notices will be issued and hearings conducted. After examining the clarifications and supporting documents, most of these cases can be corrected,” Sudarshan Reddy said.
As of Saturday, election authorities had mapped 2.38 crore voters, accounting for 70.54% of the electorate. Around 99.64 lakh voters are yet to be mapped.
In absolute numbers, Rangareddy recorded the highest number of electors with anomalies at 11.44 lakh, followed by Hyderabad at 8.65 lakh and Medchal-Malkajgiri at 8.45 lakh. In percentage terms, however, Medchal-Malkajgiri recorded the highest anomaly rate at 65%, followed by Rangareddy at 52.70% and Narayanpet at 44.16%.
The CEO announced that the SIR of electoral rolls will begin on June 25. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will undertake a door-to-door distribution of enumeration forms between June 25 and July 24.
SIR objective is to update, purify electoral rolls and not to remove genuine electors: CEO
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sudarshan Reddy said BLOs would visit every household and make up to three visits to ensure maximum coverage. Electors may submit completed forms during subsequent visits or use the Election Commission’s online facility.
Sudarshan Reddy sought to allay fears that the exercise could lead to large-scale deletion of voters. He said the objective of the SIR was to update and purify electoral rolls and not to remove genuine electors.
“A comprehensive revision of electoral rolls has not been carried out in Telangana for nearly 24 years. During this period, some voters may have died or shifted to other locations. The exercise is intended to correct such discrepancies,” he said.
The CEO also rejected concerns that any particular community would be targeted during the revision process. “Every eligible citizen will be provided with an enumeration form irrespective of caste or religion. There will be no distinction between Muslim and Hindu voters,” he said.
Election authorities have already held meetings with recognised political parties and asked them to deploy Booth Level Agents to assist officials during field verification. Officials advised voters to submit enumeration forms promptly. They said names could be excluded from the draft roll if inquiries establish that an elector has died, permanently shifted residence or is registered in more than one location.
To facilitate participation, the Election Commission has enabled online services that allow voters to check whether their names existed in earlier electoral rolls and submit forms digitally. The facility is expected to benefit voters residing outside their native constituencies, working in other states or living abroad