Special summary revision of electoral rolls has serious discrepancies: BJP

Hyderabad: Citing serious discrepancies in the preparation of special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, chairman, election commission affairs committee of the BJP, sought extension of time for disposal of claims and objections and subsequent publication of final rolls.

In a letter to the chief election commissioner, he wrote, “This is in continuation of our representations regarding a series of discrepancies in the draft electoral rolls and serious lapses in the preparation. We had requested you to depute a team of officials to verify the veracity of all our contentions and appointment of an electoral roll observer.”

Thereafter, CEO Telangana appointed Jyothi Buddha Prasad as the electoral poll observer. There are two grounds on which his appointment was not appropriate, he said.

Firstly, he was the joint CEO in 2018 when Rajat Kumar was the CEO Telangana. The other ground is that as secretary of handlooms, he presently works directly under the municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao. He also has a dubious record in preparation of electoral rolls in 2018, he wrote.

He said that the September 28 deadline for the disposal of claims and objections was insufficient. Reddy sought at least 20 more days to complete the entire exercise.