Hyderabad: Hyderabad District Congress Committee (DCC) President Syed Khalid Saifullah on Monday announced that the local party unit will stage a protest at Dharna Chowk to demand the immediate public release of voter discrepancy lists under Telangana’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Saifullah warned that if the authorities fail to release the lists following the demonstration, he will launch a hunger strike to force transparency in the electoral roll process.
Nearly 93 lakh electors flagged
According to Saifullah, the revision process has flagged nearly 93 lakh electors across the state-specifically 60,50,918 voters classified under anomalies or logical discrepancies, and another 32,36,659 listed as unmapped to the previous SIR roll.
Despite the high volume of affected voters, Saifullah stated that political parties and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) have not been provided access to the lists, limiting their ability to assist citizens in resolving their status.
Basic information being withheld
“We have exhausted every democratic avenue available to us. Yet the basic information concerning nearly 93 lakh voters continues to be withheld,” Saifullah said.
He said that the Congress party and the TPCC Election Commission Coordination Committee have made multiple written and personal representations to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Telangana, Sudharshan Reddy, since mid-August but received no response.
Saifullah highlighted that other States and Union Territories, including Karnataka, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, have already placed notice lists and logical discrepancy data in the public domain.
Congress cites previous orders
He also cited a January 19 Supreme Court order regarding West Bengal’s electoral revision, which stressed the importance of public accessibility for discrepancy lists and recognised the role of BLAs in helping voters.
The Congress party has formally submitted applications for permission to hold the peaceful protest at Dharna Chowk.
The party is demanding booth-wise disclosures of all anomalies, logical discrepancies, and no-mapping lists, complete with specific reasons for each entry.