Telangana’s 100 pc SIR form distribution claim explained

Hyderabad: Almost all 33 districts reported 100 per cent distribution of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana.

A senior election officer told Siasat.com that the figure should not be interpreted as every voter has physically received a form.

The officer explained that if a Block Level Officer (BLO) visits a household and records the status of family members who are absent, have shifted, or have died, the household is still treated as covered and the distribution is counted as complete. Thus, the 100 per cent figure reflects completion of the distribution exercise rather than physical delivery of forms to every individual voter.

The election officer faced a similar issue when the BLO knocked at his old house. “Since we had relocated from there, the BLO marked ‘shifted.’ I had to personally contact the BLO to get the enumeration form,” he told Siasat.com.

A total of 3,38,21,554 enumeration forms have been provided to the state’s 3,38,26,448 electors, while digitisation of the completed forms stood at 49.28 per cent, according to official data published on Tuesday, July 14.

Hyderabad registered the highest number of enumeration forms at 4,736,660, while in Mulugu, only 236,970 forms were distributed. Yadadri Bhongiri clocked the highest digitisation rate at 79.86 per cent and Medchal Malkajgiri was at 18.73 per cent.

SIR in Telangana began on June 24 and will continue till July 24. Once completed, focus will shift to collecting filled enumeration forms and digitising them.

The election officer further said that the list of shifted/dead will be published along with the first draft of electoral rolls.