Hyderabad: As many as 21.7% or 73.3 lakh electors were removed from the draft electoral rolls of Telangana, published by the Election Commission (EC) on Monday after completing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). These electors were removed after they were marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate.Another 92.8 lakh electors among those included in the draft are shown under anomaly and unmapped categories that will require scrutiny. Against 3.38 crore electors on the rolls before the exercise, enumeration forms of 2.64 crore or 78.3%, were submitted and digitised.Telangana chief electoral officer C Sudarshan Reddy said that genuine electors left out at the enumeration stage still had a route back. “They can be added back during the claims and objections period from August 17 to September 16 using form-6 along with the prescribed declaration form,” the CEO said.Shifting accounts for big chunkThe largest component of the pool of electors removed were those who had shifted homes since 2002. Of the 73.3 lakh cases, 45.1 lakh were classified as permanently shifted, accounting for 61.5% of all such cases. Another 11.2 lakh were absent or untraceable, 9.2 lakh were recorded as deceased(2.7 %) , 6.7 lakh had already enrolled or enrolled at multiple places, and around 1 lakh fell under other reasons.Explaining why such a large number landed in the shifted, absent or other category, Sudarshan Reddy said booth level officers (BLOs) either did not find these electors or did not receive their enumeration forms. “This could be because they had become electors in another state or Union Territory, were not found in existence, did not submit their forms by Aug 10 or were unwilling to register as electors for some reason.That distinction could become crucial during the claims period because an elector who merely failed to submit the form or was not traced during enumeration is different from one who is dead or has permanently shifted.Greater Hyderabad shrunkThe Greater Hyderabad metropolitan region including Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy together accounted for around 43 lakh electors removed from the rolls. , constituting 58.6% of Telangana’s entire deleted pool. The three districts together accounted for about one-third of the state electorate. They have now lost 37.7% of their electors in the draft rolls.Hyderabad had the highest number of electors recorded as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate at 40.9%, with 19.4 lakh cases, followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri at 35.9% with 10.7 lakh and Rangareddy at 34.79% with 12.8 lakh cases.Among constituencies in the state, Musheerabad topped Telangana with 45.1% and 1.4 lakh electors, followed by Malakpet at 44.7%, Lal Bahadur Nagar at 44.4%, Jubilee Hills at 44.4% and Secunderabad Cantonment at 42.7%. At the other end, Alair recorded just 4.3%, followed by Munugode at 6.4%, Ghanpur Station at 6.6%, Bhongir at 7.1% and Palakurthi at 7.5%.93L need second layer of scrutinyThe SIR also found 60.5 lakh electors with anomalies – 22.8% of digitised electors. Another 32.3 lakh electors were put under the no-mapping category after their records were not found in the 2002 rolls or they did not mention the requisite details.. These constitute 12.2% of the digitised records.The two categories – 92.88 lakh cases equivalent to about 35% of the draft electorate – could enter the notice and verification process.Sudarshan Reddy underlined that no name appearing in the draft electoral roll can be deleted merely on the basis of an anomaly. The CEO’s instructions state that the electoral registration officer or assistant electoral registration officer cannot delete an entry without issuing notice, conducting an enquiry and giving the elector a fair opportunity to respond.Interstate comparisonTelangana’s count of 73.3 lakh names being removed from the draft rolls is close to Gujarat’s 73.3 lakh. Tamil Nadu recorded 97.3 lakh and Uttar Pradesh 2.8 crore such names. For Telangana, however, the immediate test is not the absolute comparison but how many of the 21.7% excluded names at the draft stage represent genuine roll cleansing and how many eligible electors would return through the claims and verification process over the next month.ends
