TVRF Urges Telangana CEO to Extend Voter Roll Corrections Till Dec 31

The Telangana Voter Rights Forum (TVRF) has urged the Chief Electoral Officer in Hyderabad to extend the deadline for submitting claims and objections on the draft electoral roll until December 31, citing massive discrepancies affecting citizens across the state.

The demand follows the identification of more than 90 lakh electors who have been flagged for anomalies or remain unmapped in Telangana’s draft electoral roll. The forum argued that the existing timeline is entirely inadequate to address and rectify corrections on such an extensive scale.

According to the TVRF, the widespread discrepancies are the result of a rushed door-to-door enumeration exercise, inadequate public outreach, and administrative failures at multiple levels to help citizens establish linkages with the 2002 electoral roll.

Several voters reported that booth-level officers (BLOs) failed to collect verification forms despite repeated requests. In other cases, residents who submitted physical or online applications discovered their names were entirely missing from the draft roll, while several online registrations contained misspelled names.

To ensure fair participation, the forum requested that electors be given at least three to four days to respond after receiving a formal notice. It noted that BLOs require sufficient time and resources to serve notices personally, while citizens need reasonable time to reply around work commitments, travel, illness, pregnancy, disability, or old age.

Additionally, the TVRF requested that family members be permitted to submit documentation on behalf of electors who are unable to appear in person due to hospitalisation, work travel, study abroad, illness, or advanced age.