Bhanwarlal asks GHMC chief to make electoral rolls foolproof

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal asked Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Somesh Kumar and District Collectors of Ranga Reddy and Medak to ensure that names of eligible voters were not removed from the electoral lists during the ongoing revision of electoral roll in their respective jurisdictions.

At an hour-long meeting held here on Tuesday, the CEO made it clear that any such shortcomings of deletion of eligible voters would be a lapse on the part of authorities engaged in the revision of voters’ lists.

Later talking to media persons, Bhanwarlal said he was briefed by the commissioner that so far 6, 30,652 names had been deleted from the electoral rolls as part of the revision.

Of this, 23,803 voters were found dead and 89,085 voter’s names were registered at more than one place. While 5, 14,796 voters were reportedly shifted from their addresses given at the time of registration, names of 3,900 voters were removed under others category, he said.

Pointing out that while the population of Hyderabad stood around 70 lakh, he said the registered voters were about 83 lakh. The voter percentage was supposed to be 65 per cent of the total population.

But, in Hyderabad it was more than that, and this was what prompted to revise the electoral rolls published on January 17, 2015, he added.

The revised voters list would be published by October 5 this year, claims and objections are allowed till that time. And, whoever is an eligible voter, he or she can go to the nearest e-seva to submit their application for claiming to include their names in the electoral rolls.

Besides, people could also go to CEO Website of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to apply online for making claims and raising objections, Banwarlal said.

People could also give an SMS to 8790499899 with ‘vote’ followed by a space and their EPIC card number. Through this short message process too, the voters could get the details of whether the name was in the electoral list or not.

Also, those completing 18 years of age by January 1, 2016 could register as new voters, he said.Meanwhile, clarifying a complaint lodged by Congress leader Marri Shasidhar Reddy,

Banwarlal said though they had approached the Election Commission on the issue, so far, “They have not given even a single name of any eligible voter removed as a proof to back their complaint,” he said.