Flaws in SIR, alleges Telangana Voter Rights Forum

Hyderabad: Telangana Voter Rights Forum (TVRF), a civil society platform, on Tuesday, November 3, demanded that the SIR exercise be completely rolled back and CEC Gyanesh Kumar resign.

TVRF said it has conducted a “social audit of the SIR process and public hearings” here during October, directly meeting hundreds of voters, which showed the alleged fundamental flaws in the exercise.

Eminent citizens who addressed the press meet were Prof G Haragopal, economist and political analyst Dr Parakala Prabhakar, social activist Prof Padmaja Shah, educationist and social activist Maria Tabassum, Sister Manjula of National Dalit Christian Watch, and human rights lawyer Adv SQ Masood.

On behalf of TVRF, Dr A Suneetha presented key findings of the public hearings; Mary Liz Dias and Irfan facilitated the testimonies of deleted voters; and Kiran Vissa anchored the press meet.

‘Govt should be able to give details of 3 cr infiltrators’

Economist and political analyst Parakala Prabhakar, who was a jury member at a public hearing, questioned the comments of Union Home Minister Amit Shah about three crore foreign infiltrators in the country.

Prabhakar said that if that is really true, the government should be able to give state-wise and constituency-wise details of these infiltrators.

Prabhakar, husband of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, alleged that the government is wrongly stating that the SIR exercise has been conducted so many times in the past.

He claimed, “This is the first time in the country that an SIR of this nature is being conducted where every voter is being asked to submit a form and being deleted if the form is not received.”

He demanded that the present SIR exercise should be completely scrapped, the release said.

Detailed groundwork in Musheerabad, Secunderabad Cantt

The TVRF said detailed groundwork was carried out in Musheerabad and Secunderabad Cantonment assembly constituencies here as part of the ‘Social Audit and Public hearings’.

In the Secunderabad Cantonment constituency, the TVRF volunteers went door to door in two booths with the draft voter list and the deleted voter list. Out of 757 voters who were directly surveyed, 232 were deleted by being placed on the ASDD list, of whom 43 were wrongful deletions. Another 383 voters received notices, the release alleged.

Official figures show that there were 1,829 voters in these two booths as per 2025 lists, out of which 721 got deleted and another 960 got notices, it claimed.

In the Musheerabad constituency, out of the 95 deleted voters surveyed, 42 were wrongfully deleted, it alleged.

“Hundreds of surveyed voters expressed anger and frustration at the SIR process,” the release said.

‘State CEO must address systemic problems of SIR’

Kiran Vissa, a prominent activist, said the TVRF demands the Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana address the “systemic problems of the SIR” and that the “flawed SIR rolls” cannot be used for the upcoming Hyderabad municipal elections.

Fresh rolls should be prepared based on 2025 rolls, he said.

The TVRF’s demands include rolling back SIR, repealing the 2025 SIR guidelines, the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and repealing of 2023 Chief Election Commission Act, the release added.

A few citizens whose votes were deleted in SIR narrated their cases at the press meet and expressed their anger and frustration.

(With PTI inputs)

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