Congress seeks SIR deadline extension in Telangana

A Congress delegation led by Hyderabad Minister Ponnam Prabhakar met Telangana Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharshan Reddy and urged the Election Commission to extend the deadline for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, citing slow progress, especially in Hyderabad.

The delegation comprised MLCs Addanki Dayakar and Balamoor Venkat, MLAs Sri Ganesh and Naveen Yadav, District Congress Committee chairman Deepak John, TPCC Election Commission Coordination Committee chairman Rajesh, Motha Rohith and other party leaders.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Prabhakar said the voter verification and correction process was progressing at a ‘snail’s pace’ across the state, especially in 15 Assembly constituencies of Hyderabad. He claimed that only 21% of the voter revision process has been completed in Hyderabad district so far.

With just 10 days left for the exercise, the Congress has requested the Election Commission to grant additional time to ensure coverage of all eligible voters.

The minister said there are around 4,500 polling stations in Hyderabad but voter verification in urban areas has not progressed satisfactorily. He alleged that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) did not visit households in various areas and complaints were received that voters were not provided with necessary forms.

He also appealed to Congressional staff to actively participate in voter registration and verification efforts in the remaining days.