ECI Rejects New Family Register Certificates for Telangana Electoral Roll Revision

The Election Commission of India has ruled that Family Register Certificates issued after July 25, 2026, under the state government's new MeeSeva mechanism, will not be accepted for verification in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Hyderabad and across Telangana.

In an official letter addressed to Telangana Chief Electoral Officer C Sudarshan Reddy, ECI Secretary Navin Kumar clarified that only Family Member Certificates issued prior to July 25, 2026, will be accepted as designated verification documents during the Special Intensive Revision process.

The ruling details the key operational differences between the previous and updated procedures for issuing family certificates. Previously, a Family Member Certificate was issued by a Tahsildar following a verification process that required cross-checking official documents and conducting local inquiries.

However, while the Special Intensive Revision process was already underway in the state, the Telangana government issued orders on July 25 establishing a new mechanism for issuing Family Register Certificates through the MeeSeva platform.

Citing the government order, GO MS No. 172, ECI Secretary Navin Kumar pointed out that the new system allows Family Register Certificates to be issued within two days of application without any prior verification. Under this updated framework, applicant details are fetched electronically from the Food Security Card, also known as the ration card, database.

Kumar noted that no independent verification procedure is provided prior to the issuance of a Family Register Certificate under GO MS No. 172. He further highlighted that the Telangana government itself clarified in a letter that the government order has no bearing on, and is completely delinked from, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the state.

Because of the clear distinction between the verification methods used under the old and new regimes, the Election Commission concluded that certificates issued under the new system are equivalent to ration cards. Ration cards are not included in the list of designated documents approved for the revision process.

Additionally, Kumar noted that the Supreme Court of India, while upholding the constitutional validity of the revision process in Bihar, approved the specific list of documents prescribed by the Election Commission under the revision rules.