HYDERABAD: Defending the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as a constitutional and necessary exercise to ensure credible voter lists, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Saturday accused the Revanth Reddy government of creating fear among people by spreading misinformation about the process.
The Union minister alleged that the state government was falsely linking the SIR to religion and misleading people into believing that shifting voter registration to Hyderabad would result in the loss of pensions, ration cards, welfare benefits or land rights in their native villages. “This is completely false and misleading propaganda,” he said, adding that the exercise had no connection with religion, citizenship or welfare schemes.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP state office, Kishan said the SIR was neither new nor linked to any government or political party, but was a constitutional exercise undertaken independently by the Election Commission. He said the exercise would remove duplicate, deceased and invalid entries while enabling eligible citizens to secure voting rights. He added that the Supreme Court had also issued guidelines stressing the need for accurate electoral rolls.
Criticising the Congress and BRS for raising what he termed “unnecessary apprehensions”, Kishan urged people to participate in the revision process. He appealed to citizens, particularly those above 18 years of age, to register as voters, verify their details and rectify errors relating to names, age, addresses and family particulars.
The Union minister pointed out that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were conducting door-to-door verification as part of the exercise.
‘BLOs under MIM pressure’
Referring to Hyderabad, Kishan claimed that investigations in the past had found illegal immigrants, including Rohingyas and people from Bangladesh and Pakistan, possessing voter identity cards, Aadhaar cards and ration cards.
He also alleged that political leaders, particularly from the AIMIM, were pressuring BLOs and attempting to interfere with the verification process. Such actions, he said, were detrimental to democracy, as the Election Commission could not function according to the dictates of any political party. He appealed to people from other districts and states now residing in Hyderabad to register and vote in the city.