The party urged the EC to find out whether the low turnout in Telangana was because of the inclusion of electors from Andhra Pradesh.
File photo of a Congress rally in Telangana.
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) urged Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar to initiate steps for inquiry into the factors that led to a lower turnout of voters in Lok Sabha elections in the state than in the Assembly elections in November 2023.
In a letter to the CEC, of which a copy was sent to Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj, TPCC senior vice-president G Niranjan said the total votes polled in the elections held to the state Assembly on 30 November, 2023, were 2,32,59,256 against the total electors of 3,26,02,793.
However, in the Lok Sabha elections held on 13 May, 2024, the total votes polled were 2,20,24,806 as against total electors of 3,32,16,348.
The figures indicated that the polling was less by 12,34,450 votes in Lok Sabha elections.
He said that about 12 lakh voters were enrolled after the Assembly elections and about 8 lakh voters were deleted.
There was a net increase of about 4 lakh voters after the Assembly elections. If the additional voters’ numbers were included, the number of electors increased by about 16,50,000 in the Lok Sabha elections, he said.
He urged the Election Commission (EC) to analyse the reasons behind this and to find out whether it was because of the inclusion of electors who died or people having their names in the electoral rolls of two states: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
During the 2023 Assembly elections, the electors enlisted in both Telugu states cast their votes in Telangana as there were no elections in Andhra Pradesh, he claimed.
He further said that around 15 lakh people left Telangana to their hometowns in Andhra Pradesh two days before the Lok Sabha polls to cast their vote which was reported by all newspapers and TV channels.
He said that as per the EC rules a voter should have their vote in only one place or are liable for a criminal action adding that a large number of these sorts of discrepancies affected the polling percentage.
Niranjan said that there will be Village Panchayat, Zilla Praja Parishad Territorial Constituency, Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency and other local bodies elections in Telangana in the next few months, where the current voters’ list will be used for the elections.
TPCC requested the EC to delete the names of the voters who voted in Andhra Pradesh from the voters list of Telangana as no one is allowed to vote in two states.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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