Telangana: 90% Of Draft Voters Cleared For Final Rolls
Prior to the SIR exercise, Telangana had 3,38,26,448 voters: Reports
HYDERABAD: With the Election Commission of India easing the special intensive revision (SIR) process against the backdrop of a nationwide furore, over 98 per cent of voters in the draft electoral roll would make it to the final roll, sources said on Monday. So far, about 90 per cent of the voters have made it back to the final list that is to be published on November 9.
Of the nearly 2.64 crore voters, the ongoing SIR has cleared more than 2.42 crore names so far. According to official sources, 2,42,41,626 have been “parked for final rolls” from a total of 2,64,87,213 in draft rolls. These include 1,64,64,911 who had no “logical discrepancies” or “no mapping” issues and did not receive any notice from the ECI.
Prior to the SIR exercise, Telangana had 3,38,26,448 voters. Despite 48,468 yet to receive notices, officials are optimistic that almost all will be cleared by the end of the notice period, with only one to two lakh voters likely to lose their votes when the final rolls are published.
“In wake of the latest instructions issued by the ECI, which eased the norms, booth‑level officers (BLOs) and electoral registration officials (EROs) are ensuring that voter names are cleared without hearings. However, handing over the small number of notices has become a tough task for ground staff as voters are hardly reachable,” a senior official told Deccan Chronicle.
Out of 92,88,187 voters flagged with “logical discrepancy” and “no mapping” with SIR 2002 details, 92,39,719 have received notices. Hearings were completed for 85,19,063, while 16,976 were found ineligible for the final roll by Monday.
Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharshan Reddy on September 28 directed officials to make the process easier by avoiding insistence that voters visit ERO or assistant ERO offices for hearings. “Only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO, the hearing will be held, preferably online. Any adult member of the family can be authorised by the elector to attend the hearing on their behalf, if required. Facilities for online hearing must be strengthened,” the CEO’s memo stated.
In Hyderabad, 9,92,645 voters have been “parked for final” from 12,53,876 on whom notices were generated. While 12,768 are yet to receive notices from BLOs, officials said staff have increased phone calls and multiple visits to households to ensure compliance.
“We are regularly visiting households and calling voters to complete the task to ensure their vote remains intact,” said N. Santosh Kumar, a BLO in Malakpet constituency.
