Social media users trash Telangana CEO’s claims on SIR, call the process a sham

Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharsan Reddy faced public backlash after he posted online that the procedure and guidelines of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were duly followed in Telangana. Some social media users even threatened to move court over the deletion of voters’ names.

In a post on his official X account, the CEO said enumeration forms had been distributed to all electors and collected after being filled in. The draft electoral rolls were then prepared, excluding the names of electors whose forms had not been received.

“This was done only after House-to-House visit and due enquiry by BLOs and not done unilaterally. Also opportunity has been given to left out Electors during the period of Claims and Objections for filing their claims if any (sic),” Mr. Reddy posted, tagging the Election Commission of India’s spokesperson.

He added that special camps were held on October 15 and 16 to give electors another opportunity to ensure that all eligible voters were included and ineligible names excluded from the rolls. He maintained that the prescribed procedures had been followed throughout the process.

However, several social media users disputed the CEO’s claim that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) had conducted house-to-house visits, while others complained that they had not received enumeration forms.

“No proper procedure was followed by @CEO_Telangana. EFs were distributed but never collected. BLO’s phone was unreachable, officials refused to accept forms directly at offices. Ultimately, my name was deleted. Now, was I marked as duplicate voter, absent/shifted, or deceased?” questioned Sharath Raj, a user on X.

Sameer Mathad, a software developer, posted that he was in the process of filing [a case]. His name was deleted, and no BLO visited his home. Calling the process a sham in Telangana, he said the BLO gave the forms to a local leader who never contacted him.

Syed Irfan, an activist, called the CEO’s statement ‘purest form of lie’, and said he too had not received his enumeration form. “Jhoot aisa bolo jispe yaqeen kiya jaa sake [A lie should be believable]. “Distributed to All” is the biggest lie. Shame on you,” he posted as a reply.

Sitaram Dhulipala, another user, pointed out that voters of a single household were dispersed in different polling stations, and that house-to-house visits were not conducted.

“House-to-House visit? Is this some kind of joke to you? No one ever visited my apartment or my colony, and you people blatantly say House-to-House visit. No, you did not follow the process correctly. Stop lying! (sic),” said a user called Saiekrishna.

Rajesh, another user, invited the CEO to court. Tagging ECI, and Supreme Court, he challenged the CEO to prove that BLO had visited his home. “My name has been removed from the rolls without giving any reason, even when I submitted the SIR form and I am still alive. How can you say only dead have been deleted?,” wrote P.Jyothiswaroop, quoting the CEO’s post.

Deva Raj, also an X user, threatened to go to court if a BLO does not visit his home and follow due procedure as claimed by the CEO.