Migration churn hits IT hub hard: Serilingampally tops state in unmapped voters | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s migrant-dominated IT corridor has emerged as one of the biggest flashpoints in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with Serilingampally and Rajendranagar (more than four in every 10 electors) reporting unusually high levels of voter deletions, migration-linked shifts and unmatched records.While more than 40% of electors in the two constituencies fall under the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) category, nearly 45% of digitised voters could not be linked to the previous electoral roll, underscoring the scale of churn in the city’s fastest-growing urban belt. Serilingampally, in particular, stands out for having both a high deletion rate and a strikingly large number of unmapped voters.Hyderabad’s IT belt, comprising Serilingampally and Rajendranagar constituencies, had 14 lakh electors before the SIR exercise. Of these, 5.7 lakh or 40.9% fall under the ASDD category. The figure is nearly double Telangana’s statewide rate of 21.7% and higher than the combined 37.6% recorded across Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri districts.The bigger concern, however, is voter mapping. Of the 8.3 lakh digitised electors in the two constituencies, 3.73 lakh, or 44.8%, could not be mapped to the previous SIR. This compares with 12.2% statewide and 32.7% across Greater Hyderabad. Interestingly, anomalies account for 20.1% of cases, lower than Telangana’s 22.8%, suggesting that the IT corridor’s primary challenge is not anomalies but migration, voter deletions and linkage to earlier electoral rolls.6 in 10 voters unmappedSerilingampally has emerged as the most striking case. Of its 7.7 lakh pre-SIR electors, 3.2 lakh or 42.6% fall under the ASDD category. Among its 4.4 lakh digitised electors, 2.7 lakh or 61.6% remain unmapped. The constituency ranks fourth in Telangana in terms of no-mapping percentage and second in absolute numbers of unmapped voters.Assistant municipal commissioner Pratibha said the constituency had initially recorded 51% mapping during the pre-SIR exercise, but the number of electors submitting enumeration forms dropped significantly thereafter.“The core issue is migration. Most of them are IT employees from other states. Now after draft rolls We have been receiving complaints and resolving them. Those who do not have 2002 data were asked to submit the prescribed 12 documents,” she said.Chief electoral officer C Sudharshan Reddy had earlier said an inquiry had been ordered into the unusually high number of unmapped voters in Serilingampally and that the issue had since been rectified.However, a source alleged that in some instances booth-level officers had digitised forms without corresponding physical voter enumeration forms, an issue that may warrant closer scrutiny.Rajendranagar electoral registration officer Srinivas Reddy said cases involved both Andhra origin and North Indian voters, indicating that no-mapping and ASDD classifications, rather than anomalies, were the more significant concerns.Migration pattern evidentRajendranagar presents a different picture. Of its 6.3 lakh electors, 2.4 lakh, or 38.8%, fall under the ASDD category. Its no-mapping rate stands at 25.6%, substantially lower than Serilingampally’s but still more than double the Telangana average. Its anomaly rate, at 24.9%, is comparatively higher.Across the two constituencies, 3.4 lakh of the 5.7 lakh ASDD electors, or about 60.5%, have been classified as permanently shifted. Another 1.7 lakh are marked absent or untraceable, while the remainder include deceased voters, electors enrolled elsewhere and other categories.Chevella MP Konda Visweswara Reddy linked the trend to the highly mobile nature of Hyderabad’s western growth corridor. “In Serilingampally, a lot of people choose Andhra. Usually, people of socio-economic backwardness travel back to vote during elections. Surprisingly, it is the wealthier people, not because of money,” he said.He noted that Rajendranagar has relatively fewer Andhra-origin voters than Serilingampally, while many residents also retain links with villages in the Chevella region.“Strangely, young North Indian settlers are opting here. They have apartments. In many gated communities, even society presidents have chosen to keep their vote in Andhra. Elections in Andhra are becoming tighter,” he said.The region has historically recorded relatively low voter turnout. In the 2023 Assembly elections, turnout stood at 48.8% in Serilingampally and 56.3% in Rajendranagar. During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the two segments recorded turnout of 43.1% and 53.3%, respectively. Those figures now mirror the SIR findings, highlighting how migration and electoral roll linkage issues are reshaping Hyderabad’s IT corridor.