Hyderabad: The ongoing pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter-mapping exercise in Telangana has flagged more than 88 lakh electors across the state for anomalies, with urban constituencies in and around Hyderabad recording some of the highest discrepancy rates.
As of June 4, the state had completed mapping of 2.32 crore of its 3.39 crore voters, a completion rate of 68.7 per cent. Of those mapped, 88,13,207 electors have been marked for verification, according to data from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office.
Urban areas most affected
Quthbullapur Assembly constituency recorded the highest anomaly rate in the state at 78 per cent, followed by LB Nagar at 74 per cent, Uppal at 73 per cent and Serilingampally at 72 per cent. Other constituencies with high discrepancies include Kukatpally, Malkajgiri, Rajendranagar, Nizamabad Urban and Patancheru.
Officials attribute the higher rates in urban areas to rapid population movement, apartment living, duplicate entries and outdated addresses, a reflection of how quickly the city’s demographics have shifted since the last comprehensive revision.
Nature of anomalies
Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sudharshan Reddy told Times of India that 11 categories of anomalies have been identified during the pre-SIR mapping process. These include age and relationship mismatches when cross-referenced with earlier SIR records.
Among the specific discrepancies flagged are cases where the age gap between a voter and their parents is less than 15 years or more than 50 years, both biologically implausible. Similarly, cases where the age gap between a voter and their maternal or paternal grandparents is less than 40 years have been flagged.
Entries where more than six persons have been mapped against a single individual listed in the 2002 SIR list have also been identified as anomalous.
Reddy said notices will be issued in cases involving minor discrepancies and hearings will be conducted to examine documents and explanations submitted by voters. He expressed confidence that around 90 per cent of the anomalies would be resolved through this process.
How other states have handled it
Telangana is widely expected to follow the “panchnama” route adopted by Odisha, where signatures of residents in the locality are used to validate disputed entries. A team of Telangana officials had visited Odisha specifically to study its approach ahead of the state’s own exercise.
Uttar Pradesh, during its phase 2 SIR, took a documentation route instead. Voters there were asked to establish their relationship with the elector listed in the 2002 SIR records through any documents, not necessarily those prescribed by the Election Commission of India.
Under the documentation approach, voters mapped with parents were required to submit any document carrying both their name and their father’s or mother’s name. Those mapped with maternal grandparents had to produce a document showing their own name alongside their mother’s, as well as their mother’s document establishing her link to her parents.
Similarly, electors mapped with paternal grandparents were asked to provide a document linking them to their father, along with the father’s document establishing his own parental linkage.
Telangana’s path still unclear
The exact process Telangana will adopt for resolving SIR anomalies has not yet been formally announced. However, given that a team of officials recently visited Odisha and the experiences gathered were shared at a state-wide video conference chaired by the CEO on April 20, the panchnama route is considered the likely model.
The April 20 conference was attended by the Commissioner of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and District Election Officer (DEO), all District Collectors and DEOs and electoral registration officers from across the state.
The full SIR exercise is scheduled to commence on June 15, with booth-level officers beginning house-to-house visits from June 25.
