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Telangana voters taking ECI notices lightly
In Short
Only 9 lakh out of 45 lakh have responded till date
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People who got SIR notices submit the required documents to the authorities in Hyderabad. Photo: Ch Prabhu Das
Hyderabad: With the Election Commission of India conducting the Special Intensive Revision-2026 under a cloud, most voters in Telangana seem to have taken the notices issued to them by the ECI lightly, considering that out of approximately 45 lakh voters served notices, only about nine lakh of them have responded to them till date. The remaining voters are not showing interest.
The Election Commission started issuing notices to the voters with discrepancies/anomalies from August 18 onwards. According to reports, over 45 lakh voters were served notices but just over nine lakh voters have responded to these notices. If the voters do not respond to the notices, they could lose their voting rights but this does not seem to bother them. Already over 72 lakh votes were deleted under categories like (ASD) Absent, Shifted, Dead and already enrolled (double entries). Now, with the voters not responding to notices, there is a risk of more votes to get deleted.
According to senior officials in the office of the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), as per rules, the voters will have to be served second notice if they fail to respond to the first notice in time. However, the officials involved in the duties doubt whether the voters would respond to the second notice either.
“I don’t care even if the vote is gone. How many times I should waste my time for the vote which makes no difference. I will apply for a fresh vote later,” said a voter, Krishna Kumar, who is vexed with the rigid rules of the ECI.
Some citizens decry that the officials are pressurising the voters to appear in person. K Siddharth, an advocate from the city, said that any individual will have to work to take care of his family. Some will be daily wage earners and it will be harsh on them to make them visit the offices frequently.
Some may not get time to come but the officials are insisting the voters to come in person and submit the details, he said.
The Office of the CEO had recently issued a memo stating that any person in the family can attend for the inquiry. CEO C Sudarshan Reddy asked the officials to allow any adult family member of senior citizen/people with disability, sick, overseas electors, to appear in person before the EROs/AEROs on behalf of them and submit required documents/ information in respect of the said voter for disposal of the notices issued to them.
The EROs/AEROs were also asked to explain the procedure followed in issuing and disposal of notices during the political parties’ meetings held on a weekly basis at their level. However, the officials were insisting the voters to appear in person. Political parties have also urged the CEO to extend the time for the notices, claims and objections period for at least three weeks so that all the voters can submit their details and deletions can be avoided.
