6.64L Voters in Hyderabad LS Constituency Are Bogus: Feroz Khan

Hyderabad: TPCC general secretary Mohammed Feroz Khan has raised concerns about alleged bogus voters in the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, claiming that over 27 per cent of registered voters fall into this category. Khan presented the purported evidence to the Election Commission and demanded the removal of such voters from the voters’ list.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Press Club in Somajiguda, Feroz Khan said out of the 22,06,654 registered voters in the constituency, approximately 6.64 lakh are allegedly bogus, constituting more than a quarter of the total voter base.

Highlighting instances of irregularities within the electoral rolls, Feroz Khan pointed to the Yakutpura Assembly constituency as an example. He noted that 57,457 voters in this Assembly constituency had reportedly shifted to new locations but still retained their voter ID cards from their previous addresses.

Feroz Khan, who contested from the Nampally constituency in the recent Assembly polls but narrowly lost to AIMIM by 2,037 votes, emphasised the need for electoral roll cleanup to ensure fair elections.

"In Yakutpura, there are 29,327 houses with a single voter. Yakutpura also has one house ‘H No 17-1-391’ which has 662 voters. This house is located near MBT leader Amjedullah Khan’s house who lost the recent Assembly elections by 878 voters. If the EC had cleaned up electoral rolls and removed bogus voters, Amjedullah Khan would have won," Feroz Khan said.

Feroz Khan said his claims were not mere allegations, and asserted that he had conducted ground-level verification covertly and had gathered substantial evidence of bogus voters, which he promptly submitted to the Election Commission for action.

"I have shared all evidence with the Election Commission on bogus voters. These are not mere allegations. I demand an immediate special drive by the EC to clean up the electoral rolls. Now it is the responsibility of the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana Vikas Raj, GHMC Commissioner Ronald Ross to inquire into this and clean up the electoral rolls," Feroz Khan said.

He listed six categories of irregularities in the electors list which he has taken up with the EC.

There are voters whose names exist in two Assembly constituencies. There are a total of 1,16,397 electors who vote twice during every election and tilt the balance against the rivals, he added.

"The names of dead voters figure in the electoral rolls. These voters need to be deleted as per EC norms but GHMC is not doing so because of pressure exerted by local political leaders," he alleged.

He produced death certificates of voters who were enrolled but are eligible to vote for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress leader showed the death certificate of a voter, Fiza Begum, in the Charminar constituency which showed that she had passed away in 2022. But she continued to be enrolled in the voters list as of January 2024 and her age on the voter ID card was mentioned as 102 years. “There are 15,025 dead voters,” Feroz Khan said.