Telangana HC Stays Suryapet Poll Process Over Flawed Voters’ List

Nalgonda: The Telangana High Court passed an interim order restraining the election authorities from issuing notifications to the Suryapet municipality for municipal elections based on the disputed voter list.

The decision was taken while hearing the petition of Dindigalla Shiva Prasad, a voter from the seventh district, alleging serious irregularities in the preparation of electoral rolls.

The Supreme Court directed the State Election Commission and Suryapet municipal authorities to immediately carry out a proper and certified verification and revision of the voter list. It ordered deletion of duplicate entries and names of deceased persons and correction of entries relating to voters and ward reservation status.

The court also directed Suryapet District Collector Tejas Nandan Lal to consider the petitioner’s submission regarding differences in caste-based and ward-wise reservation allocation. The collector was asked to give the petitioner an opportunity to hear within seven days and pass appropriate orders in accordance with the law.

In his petition, Shiva Prasad claimed that the number of voters in 18 districts exceeded the actual population and pointed out serious flaws in the voter rolls.

The Supreme Court sent the matter back to hearing on January 20.