Telangana Draft Electoral Roll Sparks Complaints Over Missing Names and Glitches

Four days after election authorities released Telangana's draft SIR-2026 electoral roll, voters across Hyderabad, including localities such as Banjara Hills, Khairatabad, and Serilingampally, raised concerns over missing names, technical glitches, and unaddressed discrepancies.

Voters reported widespread difficulties in verifying their details. Many pointed out that the published draft rolls were provided as non-searchable PDF files containing roughly 600 names each, forcing individuals to scan documents manually page by page. Similar issues were reported from Serilingampally, where revisions to polling booths were not clearly outlined, prompting calls for a voter-ID-based search tool. Another voter in Constituency 61 reported repeated failures while trying to access the official portal.

In Khairatabad AC-60, Part 237, allegations surfaced regarding an improper address listing. A complaint stated that a commercial complex in MLA Colony, Banjara Hills, was recorded as a residential address, with the number of listed non-resident voters increasing from 19 to 44. Following the complaint, BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan demanded the suspension of officials involved, a forensic audit of commercial properties containing multiple registered voters, and the withdrawal of cases filed against party booth-level agents who raised the issue.

Separately, Congress representative Dr Lubna Sarwath approached election authorities regarding procedural gaps under the draft roll schedule. Under the timeline starting August 17, claims and objections run until September 16, with disposal scheduled until October 15. Sarwath noted that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) had not received notices for voters flagged with anomalies even four days after publication. She called for booth-wise anomaly lists to be published on the CEO Telangana website, English and Urdu versions of the ASDD list alongside Telugu, and better training for ground staff.

Several citizens also reported that valid voter registrations were dropped from the draft list despite holding proper acknowledgements. In one instance, a voter who submitted Form 8 online found his name deleted from the draft roll without explanation. In other cases, voters who submitted forms with supporting documentation for family members discovered the names were entirely absent from the draft rolls, with BLOs unable to explain the status of the applications.