TPCC Chief Urges Election Commission to Ensure Eligible Voters Are Not Disenfranchised During Special Intensive Revision Exercise

HYDERABAD: Alleging that BJP MPs G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar had won elections through “bogus votes” and were therefore nervous about the ongoing debate over voter verification, TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud on Friday urged the Election Commission to ensure that no eligible voter is disenfranchised while conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Telangana. Pointing out that there are no elections scheduled in the state for the next two years, Mahesh said the Congress had urged the Election Commission to conduct the SIR exercise in Telangana over a one-year period instead of rushing the process. The TPCC chief, along with MLAs, MPs and MLCs, met State Chief Electoral Officer C Sudharshan Reddy at BRK Bhavan and submitted a representation on the SIR process. Addressing the media later, the TPCC chief alleged that large-scale voter manipulation had taken place across 14 states and claimed that the voter verification exercise was being carried out in an “undemocratic manner”. Referring to West Bengal, he alleged that political equations in the state were altered through voter list manipulation, resulting in parties expected to come to power losing elections. He alleged that the large-scale deletion of voters during the SIR process altered the electoral outcome in West Bengal. While 90 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls in the eastern state, only 30 lakh were added, he claimed.