Voters staying in SCB lands to lose voting rights

Hyderabad: Nearly 25,000 to 30,000 voters in Secunderabad Cantonment will not be able to vote in Secunderabad Cantonment Board elections. Following a Supreme Court directive to crack the whip on people who have encroached on government lands in Cantonments across the country, the Secunderabad Cantonment Board is preparing to launch a drive in all wards to identify voters falling in this category.

It may be mentioned here that an electoral verification drive by the Election Commission of India was conducted in the Cantonment in the last few months. 
Leaving out GHMC areas, the Cantonment’s eight wards have nearly 1.8-2 lakh voters.

According to SCB vice-president J. Rama Krishna, nearly 15 per cent of voters living in slums and bastis will be unable to vote in cantonment elections.

Affected areas

“The Supreme Court direction is just for Cantonment Board elections and not for general elections. We are exploring legal options on how to protect voting rights of these poorer sections who have been residing in these places for several decades,” Mr Krishna said.

Samba Ashok, a car driver from Ambedkar huts in Mudfort says about 1,000 voters will be affected.

“We have been living in this area for 30 years and have Aadhaar, ration and other cards. But the SCB has decided to deprive us of voting in the board elections. This decision has come as a big shock to us,” he said.

Ward-2 has several slums established on Airports Authority land. More than 70 per cent of the slum dwellers here are set to lose their voting rights. There are quite a few slums in Ward-3 that will also be affected. 

Cantonment sources said that with quite a large number of voters losing their voting rights in some wards, there is a possibility that ward boundaries will be redrawn to ensure equal numbers of voters in all wards.

“Ward boundaries are likely to be redrawn so that each ward will have 18,000 to 20,000 voters. SCB elections are due in 2020. It remains to be seen if the same number of wards are retained or the number cut short by one ward,” said J. Maheshwar Reddy, ward-1 member.

Congress launches drive against deletion

The Cantonment unit of the Congress party has launched a drive against the deletion of voters by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board. 

The names of the residents of various slums and bastis within the Cantonment limits that are encroachments are being deleted from the list of eligible voters. The Congress party is protesting this move. 

Members of the party went around the Sai Baba huts and collected details, including Aadhaar number and voter ID, from the members of 300 families. 

Congress leader Krishank Manne said that they spoke to nearly a thousand voters who were very upset by the Board’s decision. 

“They have been living on these lands for decades and have enjoyed the benefits of government welfare schemes. They have Aadhaar cards and other documentation. Now they are being labelled encroachers and their voting rights are being taken away by citing Supreme Court orders, which is unfair,” Mr Manne said. 

The Congress party plans to continue this campaign in other slums and bastis in the eight wards under the Board’s jurisdiction. It is exploring options to have the deletions revoked. It may even take up a legal tussle on behalf of the poor.