Revanth writes to ECI, seeks 4-wk extension for electoral roll claims | Hyderabad News

Revanth writes to ECI, seeks 4-wk extension for electoral roll claims

Hyderabad: With nearly one in every three Telangana voters set to face scrutiny under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to extend the claims and objections period by four weeks, warning that lakhs of eligible electors risk being left out of the final rolls.In a letter to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Revanth sought an extension of the claims and objections period from the current Sept 16 deadline. He also requested wider public reading of draft electoral rolls, more time for voters to respond to notices, the opening of help desks and additional manpower at the electoral registration officer (ERO) level.“The SIR in Telangana has now reached a stage where the numbers themselves invite the commission’s attention,” Revanth said in the letter.He noted that, against the electoral roll of 3.38 crore voters as on June 10, as many as 73.39 lakh entries, or 21.7%, had been placed under the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) categories.Of the 2.65 crore enumeration forms digitised so far, 60.5 lakh have been flagged for anomalies and another 32.3 lakh for not being linked to the earlier electoral roll. “The two sets are distinct and do not overlap; they add up to 92.8 lakh, and each of those electors is to be put on notice. Stated plainly, something close to one-third of the electorate of the state must now either prove its entitlement afresh or lose its place on the final roll,” he stated.The chief minister described the composition of the ASDD list as a matter of “grave concern”, pointing out that 45.1 lakh of the 73.3 lakh flagged entries, nearly 62%, had been classified as “permanently shifted”.He argued that the current verification methodology suffers from serious structural flaws, including the failure to distinguish between temporary absence and permanent relocation. “A voter who was simply at work, traveling, or temporarily away when the BLO visited is treated identically to someone who has permanently relocated,” Revanth said.He also flagged the lack of facilitation for voters who had genuinely moved residence. “Electors who have actually moved were given no assistance to file an application for enrolling as voters at a new address, yet their names are routinely marked for deletion at their previous residence,” he said.Revanth further contended that voters marked as “shifted” were excluded from the statutory notice mechanism. Notices are issued only in cases involving data anomalies or unmapped entries, he said, leaving many eligible citizens unaware that their names could be deleted from the rolls.The CM pointed out that Hyderabad, Medchal Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts accounted for 58.6% of all ASDD entries and 41.9% of verification notices, despite together accounting for only about one-third of the state’s electorate.With the claims and objections period currently scheduled from Aug 17 to Sept 16, Revanth said the timeline was inadequate and sought a four-week extension.He also urged the ECI to direct district election officers to conduct public readings of draft electoral rolls at least twice in every village and municipal ward after giving adequate publicity.The CM sought three to four weeks for electors to respond to notices and submit supporting documents, particularly in cases where records must be obtained from another district or state.In addition, he proposed setting up help desks, especially in urban districts, to assist voters in responding to notices and securing admissible documents. “The commission should notify a wider list of admissible documents that could be obtained locally, including at the mandal level, to ensure voters were not excluded for want of documentation,” he said.The objective of the exercise, he said, should be to ensure that “no eligible elector is left out and no ineligible voter is included” in the final rolls.Assuring the ECI of the state’s full cooperation, Revanth said the govt was prepared to support the exercise through help desks, gram sabha and ward-level meetings, awareness campaigns and dissemination of information among affected voters.