KTR voices serious concern over deletion of 35,000 voters in SCB

Hyderabad: Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao on Wenesday wrote a letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seeking immediate intervention of the Government of India in restoring the names of 35,000 electors, who were deleted from eight wards of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), and help them participate in the democratic exercise of voting scheduled on April 30.

Rao said the SCB had deleted about 35,000 electors' names from the voter list on the ground that they 'encroached' the defence land. He said it was a completely illegal and unconstitutional act as none of the electors whose names were deleted from were given any show-cause notice before the deletion of names from the list.

"These electors are residing in SCB limits over the past 75 years. Such incidents are intimidating the electors as such an act is indirectly or directly posing a threat to their identity, while they are very much the citizens of India, who are residing in Telangana State," he said.

The minister said the relevant law relating to the preparation of the voter list for a Cantonment is contained in Sections 27 and 28 of the Cantonment Act. Rao said he firmly believed that none of the electors breached these sections but are unfortunately being penalised by the SCB by removing their names from the voter list arbitrarily.

So far, no court in the country gave a judgment that declares any of these individuals to be a non-resident of the SCB. Neither the SCB has ever issued a notice to any of these persons indicating that they are not a resident or an inhabitant of Cantonment Board.

Rao said the SCB cannot snatch away the right to vote and the right to contest in the election. By removing the names of voters from the list, SCB has outrightly violated Article 14 of the Constitution. Under such unconstitutional circumstances, it is unfortunate to see SCB walk backward when it comes to recognising its voters.

"With pain, I state that there has been no increase in voter numbers in SCB since five years. In 2018, the 191,849 voters have now been reduced to 132,722 voters," he pointed out.