48 lakh Telangana voters face deletion, 3 lakh in Old City
Hyderabad recorded the highest number of uncollectable voter forms, with 7.41 lakh applications remaining undelivered during the verification drive.
48 Lakh Telangana Voters Face Deletion; Nearly 3 Lakh Cases Flagged in Hyderabad’s Old City
Hyderabad: Telangana’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has identified 48.3 lakh voters, accounting for 14.2 percent of the state’s 3.38 crore electorate, for possible deletion. Election authorities said the figure could rise further as 29.5 lakh enumeration forms are still awaiting digitisation and verification.
The Election Commission has also extended the deadline for completing the exercise from August 3 to August 10, allowing additional time for officials to collect, verify and upload pending forms.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C. Sudharshan Reddy said that voters whose enumeration forms could not be collected would be considered for deletion if they fall under recognised categories such as permanently shifted, deceased, duplicate registrations or untraceable persons. According to the CEO, many of those listed have moved away from their registered addresses, making it impossible for officials to verify their presence during door-to-door visits.
The proposed deletions are based on field verification carried out by election officials across Telangana. During the exercise, officials visited the addresses of registered voters to collect enumeration forms. In many cases, residents were found to have shifted, houses remained locked, occupants could not be traced, or the individuals had already enrolled elsewhere. Some entries also belonged to deceased voters.
Among the 48.3 lakh electors identified for deletion, the largest category is people who have permanently shifted, numbering 28.7 lakh, which represents 8.5 percent of the total electorate. Another 8.6 lakh voters have been reported as deceased. Around 4.8 lakh individuals were classified as absent or untraceable during field visits, while 5.8 lakh were identified as duplicate entries or voters already registered in another location.
Election officials have so far digitised and verified approximately 2.6 crore of the 3.38 crore enumeration forms distributed across the state. This represents nearly 77 percent of the total electorate. The remaining 29.5 lakh forms will determine whether those voters remain on the rolls, require further verification or are eventually added to the deletion list.
The CEO clarified that discrepancies found in successfully collected forms, particularly cases marked as Absent, Shifted or Dead (ASD) or other anomalies, will not automatically result in deletion. Instead, notices will be issued to the concerned voters, giving them an opportunity to respond before any final action is taken.
Urban districts record highest uncollectable forms
The SIR exercise has revealed that Telangana’s urban districts account for a significant share of uncollectable forms.
The districts of Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy together account for 22.1 lakh uncollectable forms, nearly 46 percent of the statewide total. Additionally, another 23.9 lakh forms from these three districts are yet to be digitised, indicating that the final figures could change after the verification process is completed.
Election officials attribute the high numbers in these districts to rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, tenant mobility, locked residences and difficulties in accessing gated communities, all of which have complicated door-to-door verification.
At the constituency level, Uppal recorded the highest percentage of uncollectable forms. Out of 5.47 lakh registered voters, 1.84 lakh, or 33.6 percent, could not be verified during the exercise.
Other constituencies with high proportions include Warangal West (27.7 percent), Secunderabad (27.1 percent), Quthbullapur (26.8 percent), Sanathnagar (26.8 percent) and Secunderabad Cantonment (26.8 percent).
In terms of absolute numbers, Quthbullapur topped the list with 2,00,690 uncollectable forms. It was followed by Uppal (1,84,224), Serilingampally (1,59,713), Maheswaram (1,52,040) and Medchal (1,48,247).
Among all districts, Hyderabad recorded the highest number of uncollectable forms, with 7.41 lakh voters falling into the category.
Old City records lower-than-state average
The figures present a comparatively different picture in Hyderabad’s Old City, where seven constituencies represented by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) reported lower levels of uncollectable forms than the state average.
The constituencies of Yakutpura, Charminar, Nampally, Malakpet, Bahadurpura, Karwan and Chandrayangutta together recorded 2,92,859 uncollectable forms, representing about 12.2 percent of their combined electorate. This is below the statewide average of 14.28 percent.
Six of the seven constituencies remained below the state average. Yakutpura was the only exception, recording 71,688 uncollectable forms, or 19.12 percent of its electorate.
Karwan and Bahadurpura registered the lowest proportions among the seven constituencies, with 7.59 percent and 8.69 percent respectively.
Despite the comparatively lower percentage of uncollectable forms, digitisation remains incomplete across the Old City cluster. Officials said 6,99,926 enumeration forms from these seven constituencies are still pending digitisation. Their final status will be determined after verification is completed, which could affect the number of voters retained or proposed for deletion before the revised electoral rolls are finalised.