Nearly 93 Lakh Voters Face Notices Over Draft Electoral Roll Errors

Nearly 93 lakh voters are set to receive notices from election officers after widespread errors and unmapped entries were detected in the newly published draft electoral rolls across Hyderabad, causing frustration among residents who may now need to file Form 8 for corrections.

Out of 2,64,87,213 voters who submitted their Enumeration Forms by August 10, officials found anomalies in 60,50,918 records, while 32,36,659 voters were placed in the unmapped category. The discrepancies have left approximately 93 lakh electors facing scrutiny from the Election Commission, despite their details having been correctly recorded during earlier revisions in 2002 and 2025.

Voters have placed the blame on booth level officers (BLOs) for uploading inaccurate details during manual data entry. In several instances, names and family relationships were altered, including cases where a grandfather's name appeared in place of a father's name.

“During the Enumeration Phase, the voters were careful enough to provide details, particularly in the names and relationship columns, as well as details of pre-SIR mapping. However, the BLOs, under pressure to complete the task at the earliest, might have made mistakes during manual entry, which have crept into the draft list,” said M.A. Mujeeb Ayyub, a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) volunteer and founder of ADALAH – Access to Justice Network.

Local residents expressed dismay over having to undertake corrective measures for official errors. “My family members felt that the SIR process had been completed, as the BLOs had visited and collected the forms. They were not ready to accept the fact that they could receive notices. But given the massive number of anomalies, there is a possibility that one in three voters will receive notices,” said P. Rajneesh Kumar, a resident of Banjara Hills.

Aside from incorrect personal details, electors also reported difficulties locating their names in draft lists due to booth reallocations and altered serial numbers.

Following the publication of the draft rolls on August 17, Hyderabad District Congress Committee president Syed Khalid Saifullah called on city police to stay alert to potential fraud. He warned that scammers might exploit the confusion by contacting electors regarding roll status updates to solicit one-time passwords, banking information, or other sensitive personal data.