HYDERABAD: Warning that around 21% of votes in Telangana could be deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday alleged that some political forces were conspiring to remove voters from the rolls as the state was their next target after West Bengal.
Speaking at the Minorities Excellence Summit in Hyderabad on Thursday, Revanth referred to the deletion of lakhs of votes during the SIR exercise in West Bengal and urged Congress workers to ensure that no eligible voter was removed from the rolls.
“Some people are trying to delete votes in the name of SIR. They are saying that after winning in West Bengal, Telangana is now the target. Mamata Banerjee may have let them go in her state, but I already said that Congress workers here will not let them get away with it,” he said.
The chief minister called upon Congress workers to visit every household, verify the names of voters and ensure that not a single eligible person lost the right to vote.
At a TPCC Zoom meeting later in the day, Revanth expressed concern that as many as 21% of votes in Telangana could be deleted during the SIR process. He attributed the situation partly to a lack of proper coordination between in-charge ministers, constituency-level leaders and booth-level workers.
He directed district in-charge ministers to immediately review the electoral rolls with parliamentary and Assembly constituency in-charges and spend two days in the field. The Assembly constituency in-charges were asked to stay in their respective constituencies for four days, identify problems relating to the electoral rolls and ensure that they were resolved.
The chief minister also directed party leaders to prepare a detailed report for every constituency and take the alleged BJP-BRS conspiracy to delete voters to the people.
The party would not tolerate any failure to implement a proper action plan, Revanth said, adding that the AICC had issued clear instructions on the issue. “If we fail to act systematically, it could cause serious political damage to the party in the future. Everyone must take responsibility and work together to address the issue,” he said.
At the Minorities Excellence Summit, the chief minister also targeted Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the 4% reservation for minorities, saying Shah had stated that the quota would be removed if the BJP came to power in Telangana.
Pursued minority quota despite SC hurdles: Revanth
“We have already challenged Amit Shah to first remove the Muslim quota in Gujarat,” Revanth said, recalling that the Congress implemented the 4% reservation for minorities in Telangana. He said the state had ensured that minority candidates benefited from the quota in Group-1 and Group-2 recruitments.
“Our government implemented the 4% reservation effectively and the youth have secured jobs in Group-1 and Group-2 services. We ensured minorities were given their due place. Even though some forces tried to stall the recruitment process by approaching the Supreme Court, we pursued the matter seriously and successfully completed the appointments,” he said.
Listing other measures, Revanth said a member of the community had been appointed to the TGPSC, former India cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin had been made a minister, boxer Nikhat Zareen had been provided a Group-1-level job along with Rs 3 crore, and cricketer Mohammed Siraj had been appointed a DSP.
