Civil society groups seek transparency in SIR notice process in Telangana

Hyderabad: A group of civil society organisations and social activists has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana and all District Election Officers in the state, demanding stricter monitoring of how Forms 6, 7 and 8 are being processed during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The appeal, signed by 17 activists and organisations including SQ Masood of ASEEM, Meera Sangamitra of the National Alliance of People’s Movements, Khalida Parveen and Rachana Mudraboyina of Hum Is Desh Wasi, asks authorities to ensure no voter is struck off the rolls over unverified or politically motivated objections filed through Form 7, which is used to seek deletion of names.

The signatories said Forms 6 and 8, used respectively for fresh registration and correction of entries, were at risk of rejection without proper verification or adherence to prescribed procedure, and called on officials to guard against this.

A central demand in the appeal is that authorities stop issuing notices over what the group called “minor anomalies” in names and ages, arising from mismatches between the 2002 electoral data and current rolls. The activists said 60 to 70 percent of names in the 2002 records were wrongly entered at the time, since the data was originally collected in Telugu and later translated into English, and that voters should not be penalised for errors made by data entry operators.

The group also flagged the short notice period given to voters before hearings on their cases, and asked that a minimum of one week be given between the handing over of a notice and the scheduled hearing date. They sought clear attendance records at hearings, along with formal acknowledgements or receipts issued to voters upon submission of documents or responses to notices.

Among their specific recommendations, the activists urged the Election Commission to direct Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs (AEROs) to conduct hearings transparently with documented evidence for every rejection, to issue receipts for all submitted documents, and to subject Form 7 deletion requests to rigorous, non-mechanical scrutiny before action is taken.

The appeal noted that voters often lack certain documents due to poverty, lack of awareness, language barriers, migration or other genuine difficulties, and said the SIR process should not result in the exclusion of eligible voters on such grounds.

The signatories said they were documenting procedural violations on the ground, including wrongful rejections and voter harassment, and warned that they would pursue legal action against Booth Level Officers (BLOs), AEROs and EROs found to have failed in their statutory duties if authorities did not act on the issues raised.

A copy of the appeal was also marked to the District Election Officers of all districts in Telangana.