Owaisi Seeks Permanent Residence Certificates for Poor During SIR Exercise

Hyderabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday demanded that the Congress government in Telangana provide 'Permanent Residence Certificate' to people by finalising certain criteria to ensure that eligible voters do not lose their vote during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls.

Addressing a gathering here, he alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is not giving him time to meet.

He indicated that he discussed relevant issues with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka when he met the latter.

Owaisi said the Congress government in neighbouring Karnataka provides 'Permanent Residence Certificate'.

"We demand the Telangana government to immediately provide Permanent Residence Certificate," he said.

The AIMIM leader said the state government can provide the certificate based on criteria, including presence of a person's parents or grandparents names in the electoral rolls or on the basis of Aadhar, PDS ration cards and school records.

Claiming that at least 50 people are approaching AIMIM on a daily basis since the last two months with the complaint that they don't have the documents to submit as identity proofs during Special Intensive Revision (SIR), he asked how can they be deprived of the right to vote if they lack the documents.

He said double entries, dead voters and other such ineligible voters should be removed from the electoral rolls, but genuine voters cannot be deleted.

If the ruling Congress does not understand that poor people in the state do not have the necessary documents, then it is cut off from the reality, he said.

Congress should not "condole" after publication of final voters' lists (about deletion of names) saying some conspiracy happened, he added.

Owaisi on June 11 demanded that the EC accept PAN card, driving licence, and PDS ration card as identity proofs for voter verification during the SIR.

He had urged CM Revanth Reddy to make efforts to include the driving licence, PDS ration card, and other documents issued by the state government in the list of valid proofs for establishing voter identity.

The AIMIM president said lawyers have a crucial role to play during the SIR process in ensuring that names of genuine voters are not removed from voters' lists. They can help those who receive notices after publication of draft electoral roll on July 31.

Referring to the High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes appointed by the Centre, Owaisi said he suspects Union Home Minister Amit Shah would like to conduct a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the country.