HYDERABAD: Electoral rolls in Telangana have problems, and some of these went unrectified over three revisions of the rolls, Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj has acknowledged.
The BJP and Congress have been repeatedly leveling allegations that the electoral rolls were flawed, and the successive CEOs have done little to ensure error-free voter lists.
If the submission of Vikas Raj to the Chief Election Commissioner’s office in New Delhi earlier this month is anything to go by, in at least one gated community, around 4,000 voters were left out of the lists despite three exercises summary revisions of the rolls.
In a letter to the CEC’s office dated September 4 addressing two of the several concerns raised by the BJP, Vikas Raj acknowledged that 4,000 eligible voters in My Home Bhooja Apartments in Serilingampally constituency were left out with only 126 names registered. The then Electoral Registration Officer for Serilingampally, “has not taken proper steps to enroll all eligible voters in My Home Bhooja Apartments in the last three summary revisions and house-to-house survey.”
In his letter to the CEC, Vikas Raj said disciplinary action for this lapse was recommended by the Rangareddy district election officer, Venkanna, who is currently the zonal commissioner, of Charminar zone, GHMC. Recommendation of action to be taken was made to the commissioner and director of municipal administration and urban development department.
Senior BJP leader and former minister Marri Shashihdhar Reddy who led a team of BJP leaders to the CEC in Delhi on Wednesday where they submitted a representation listing flaws in the state’s electoral rolls, said, “There are 173 gated communities accounting to around 3 lakh voters just in Serilingampally constituency alone and that the magnitude of the problem could be much much more.”
The BJP had repeatedly pursued with the Telangana CEO issues relating to bogus voters, eligible voters being missed out of the rolls, and incorrect allotment of polling booths, as well as the presence of more than a hundred voters listed as residing in one house. In its representation to the CEC on Wednesday, the BJP had said electoral rolls were very flawed and defective in Telangana. It said that while these errors can be found in all Assembly constituencies, they are glaring in urban constituencies.
Meanwhile, Vikas Raj on Thursday conducted a review with three district election officers, 24 returning officers, and 24 electoral registration officers (EROs) in the GHMC area ahead of September 19, the last date of acceptance of claims and objections as part of the special summary revision of electoral rolls.
