BJP leader Prakash Reddy
Hyderabad: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Prakash Reddy on Tuesday, July 7, said the Election Commission “is under pressure” from Muslim MLAs who are allegedly appointing Booth Level Officers (BLO) from “their own community” to include illegal voters in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
Reddy slammed Asaduddin Owaisi’s demand for a “permanent residence certificate (PRC)” as proof of identity for the ongoing SIR, accusing him of “showing interest in Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims.”
Owaisi had on Monday, July 6, asked the Telangana government to provide PRC, stating that the Congress government in Karnataka issued similar documents to citizens.
“Owaisi’s demand is only to give citizenship to foreigners who are illegally staying in the country,” Reddy said in an interview with news agency ANI, adding that “lakhs of foreigners, particularly Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, are staying in Hyderabad.”
He called Owaisi’s demand for PRC “unconstitutional and against the national interest” and claimed that the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader was motivated by political gains.
“As far as Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is concerned in Karnataka, the Election Commission personnel who are conducting the SIR, they’re all state government employees. Election Commission will take responsibility for it,” said BJP leader Reddy.
Reiterating that the EC will conduct the exercise, he said the electoral body is under pressure from Muslim MLAs and “Muslim League MLAs.”
“They are appointing BLOs only from that particular community and they are trying their level best to include illegal voters,” Reddy alleged.
Officially, the state government cannot directly appoint BLOs, though they are always drawn from the ranks of state government employees, local bodies or the public sector. The authority to appoint the officers rests solely with the designated election officials under the Election Commission of India.
The process of appointment is even governed by statutory provisions under Section 13B(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. Once appointed, the BLOs transition out of state government control for their election duties. Under the law, they are formally representing the Election Commission of India.
Claiming otherwise, Reddy appealed to the BLOs and the Election Commission to take “maximum care not to include foreigner voters, not to include ineligible voters, not to include eligible voters who are already registered in other states.”
According to the BJP leader, such voters should be deleted first for the Election Commission to conduct the process without any pressure. “Then only the purpose will be solved. Otherwise, there is pressure from Chief Ministers like Shivakumar, pressure from Owaisi through the Chief Minister of Telangana.”
He said that the EC should not give in to such pressures even when preparing the SIR list, as far as the voter list is concerned.”
This post was last modified on July 7, 2026 1:38 pm