HYDERABAD: Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister and BRS working president K T Rama Rao wrote to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday seeking immediate intervention of the Central government for restoration of names of 35,000 electors who were deleted from eight wards of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB).
Elections for the Board members will be held on April 30, 2023. Stating that SCB has deleted as many as 35,000 names from the voters’ list on the ground that they allegedly encroached on the defense land, Rama Rao said that it is a completely illegal and unconstitutional act as none of the electors whose names were deleted from the electors’ list were given any show cause notice before deleting their names.
“These electors and their families have been residing in Secunderabad Cantonment Board limits over the last 75 years. Such incidents pose a threat to their identity, while they are very much the citizens of India who are residing in Telangana State,” Rama Rao said.
The Minister said that like every other responsible citizen of the country, the voters from SCB have showcased utmost sincerity in executing all their duties which includes payment of electricity and water bills. He said that these electors have been exercising their right to vote in various elections, which include SCB elections, Assembly elections, and also Parliamentary elections.
“SCB cannot snatch away the right to vote and the right to contest in the election. By removing the names of the voters from the list, SCB has violated Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Under such unconstitutional circumstances, it is unfortunate to see SCB walk backwards when it comes to recognising its voters. With pain, I state that there has been no increase in voters’ number in SCB in the last five years. In 2018, there were 1,91,849 voters but their number has come down to 1,32,722 voters,” the Minister said.