Over 5.41 lakh voters in Hyderabad removed from electoral rolls; EC issues poll notification in Telangana

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Candidates in the fray

Telangana BJP chief and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, the party’s national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar and senior leader Etala Rajender are among the saffron party candidates while the Congress fielded, among others, BRS turncoats Danam Nagender and K Kavya.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking re-election from the party’s bastion of Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency and the BJP has fielded a political novice but enthusiastic K Madhavi Latha who has begun a spirited campaign.

Former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar and present MP Nama Nageswar Rao are among others in the poll fray from former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS party.

While the BJP and BRS have already announced their candidates for 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, Congress has named its nominees to 14 so far.

The Lok Sabha election is crucial for Congress, BJP and BRS, especially the BRS which is facing an existential crisis of sorts following its unexpected defeat in the Assembly elections held in November last year and the desertion of several of its leaders subsequently.

The election is also significant for Chief Minister Revanth Reddy as his position will be consolidated if the party manages to win more seats.

For BJP, Telangana is the only state in the south, after Karnataka, where it sees the possibility to win a substantial number of seats.

In the 2019 general elections, BRS (then TRS) won nine seats, BJP – four, Congress – three and AIMIM – one seat.

Poll campaign in full swing

Congress, fresh from its win in the 2023 Assembly polls, is keen to repeat the good show, while BRS that ruled the state for 10 years and now suffering defections, is striving hard to reverse its fortunes.

The BJP, energised by its better poll show— in terms of seats and vote share in 2023 state elections, is eager to make more electoral inroads.

Chief Minister and state Congress president A Revanth Reddy, BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and the BJP’s candidates have already kicked off their poll campaign.

Revanth Reddy recently addressed two public meetings, while Chandrasekhar Rao, also known as KCR, has also attended two BRS rallies organised during the last few days.

Also Read: ECI issues notice to BRS chief KCR for derogatory remark against Congress

Deletion of voters

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has deleted 5.41 lakh voters, which include the dead, shifted and duplicate, from the electoral rolls in Hyderabad district covering 15 Assembly constituencies.

The district election officer on Wednesday, 17 April, said in a release that the election machinery in Hyderabad district has been striving hard to ensure purity of the electoral roll and is taking all measures to ensure free and fair elections.

Sincere efforts were made to ensure that polling stations are located not only in accessible areas but all ECI norms are adhered to, the release said.

Since January 2023, in Hyderabad district’s 15 Assembly constituencies, a total of 47,141 dead voters, 4,39,801 “shifted voters” and 54,259 duplicate voters have been removed from the electoral roll.

“That is to say, a total of 5,41,201 voters were removed from the electoral rolls duly following the instructions of ECI,” it said.

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‘Deletions as per procedure’

All the deletions have been done as per procedure.

During the purification of electoral rolls, it was observed that many voters had “non-standard” house numbers on the electoral roll.

A drive was taken up to identify such voters and corrections were done.

In Hyderabad district, a total of 1,81,405 such voters have been identified and corrections have been made to their house numbers.

One of the core measures taken up to improve polling percentage and ensure voter facilitation is to bring “split voters” in a family to a single polling station.

In Hyderabad district, a total of 3,78,713 corrections were made so that split voters in a family are brought to one polling station.

The District Election Officer, Hyderabad, who is the Commissioner of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), has taken all steps for the purification of Electoral Rolls, to ensure voter facilitation and for conduct of free and fair elections, the release said.

The 15 Assembly constituencies in Hyderabad district are part of the Hyderabad and Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituencies.

BJP candidate from Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency K Madhavi Latha had earlier claimed that there are as many as six lakh bogus votes in the constituency.

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