The special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana has identified 63.5 lakh voters for potential deletion under the ASDD category, which includes absent, shifted, dead and duplicate entries. With the enumeration phase scheduled to close on August 10, booth-level officials across the state have been working intensively to complete the verification process. The public holidays on Second Saturday, Sunday and Monday’s Bonalu festival have pushed officials to complete most of the ground work by Friday itself.
Along with the ASDD deletions, the state has recorded over 62 lakh anomalies in enumeration forms containing errors or data mismatches. Hyderabad district leads with 6,61,557 anomalies, representing approximately 14 per cent of the total, though digitisation in the capital city has not yet crossed the 60 per cent mark. Combined, these two categories affect approximately 1.2 crore voters who risk being excluded from the draft electoral list unless they update their details with booth level officers immediately.
The digitisation progress across Telangana has reached 78 per cent, covering 2,64,11,118 votes, while Hyderabad lags at 58.41 per cent as of Saturday. In Hyderabad district, which comprises 15 Assembly constituencies, over 14 lakh votes nearly 30 per cent of the total 47,36,669 votes from the 2002 voter list have been placed in the ASDD category. This figure showed a sharp increase from 9.5 lakh recorded on August 4, indicating aggressive verification by poll officials in the final days.
Booth-level officials have adopted a stricter approach as the deadline approaches. An official confirmed that BLOs are no longer waiting for people to submit their enumeration forms and are instead marking non-responsive voters in the ASDD category. However, some officials have chosen to continue their work until the official deadline. Md Saleem, a bill collector and supervisor to 12 BLOs in Warisguda area under the Secunderabad constituency, stated that there is no haste from their side and they will continue working without pressure until Monday, the last date.
Election observers have noted a misconception among some voters that poll authorities might extend the deadline, leading to complacency. Advocate Malik D. Basha from Shalibanda warned voters that they would lose their voting rights if they delay submitting their forms. He advised those who have filled forms online to obtain acknowledgement from their local BLO, as this would serve as physical evidence when facing notices after the draft electoral roll is released.
Voters whose names appear in the ASDD or anomaly list must immediately contact their local booth level officer, collect enumeration forms, and submit them before August 10. For anomalies involving spelling errors, date of birth discrepancies, or parental information mismatches, corrections must be made promptly. After August 17, affected voters will receive official inquiry notices from the local electoral registration officer during the claims and objections phase. As per guidelines, no name can be removed without giving the voter an opportunity to be heard, and individuals must bring legitimate proof of identity, address, and ancestry when appearing before the ERO.
