Hyderabad: Over 25% voter enumeration forms pending ahead of August 3 deadline

With the August 3 deadline for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR) in Hyderabad district approaching, over 25% of the enumeration forms distributed to voters have not been returned, according to official data.

The District Election Officer and GHMC Commissioner, R.V. Karnan, announced on Tuesday that only 53.33% of the total enumeration forms printed have been digitised so far. Out of 47,36,669 forms printed for the 15 constituencies in the district, only 25,26,014 forms have been returned and digitised. Urging voters to submit their forms immediately, Mr. Karnan stressed that August 3 is the deadline for both receipt and digitisation.

While authorities claim 100% distribution of forms, Mr. Karnan admitted that approximately 10% of the forms remain with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) because no residents collected them. According to the Election Commission of India's procedure, BLOs are required to make house-to-house visits, but this has not been uniformly followed. In several areas, BLOs instead distributed and collected forms from central locations within colonies.

Forms for which no claimants come forward will be added to the Absent, Shifted, Dead (ASD) list, Mr. Karnan said during a press conference. Currently, 4,79,405 voters (10.12%) have already been added to the ASD list. Even when including the undistributed forms, the total accounted for remains below 75%.

Mr. Karnan indicated that BLOs are not receiving additional forms back, attributing the shortfall to duplicate or shifted voters. He explained that some voters who also have registrations elsewhere might choose to retain those and forego their Hyderabad enrolment. In other cases, forms left outside locked doors may not have been returned.

Constituency-wise data shows Malakpet recording the lowest digitisation rate at 49.7%, followed by Musheerabad at 50.12%. The highest rate was in Bahadurpura, with 58.74%. Additionally, 4,81,744 voters have submitted their forms online.

Addressing concerns about misinformation, Mr. Karnan clarified that electoral rolls will not be linked to welfare schemes and urged citizens not to fall for false propaganda. He also noted that August 3 is the closing date for rationalisation of polling stations, ensuring no station has more than 1,000 voters. Karwan, Chandrayangutta, and Bahadurpura currently exceed this limit with over 1,200 voters per station.

Following the completion of the revision process, the draft electoral roll will be published on August 10. Notices will then be issued to voters whose forms contain anomalies. Claims and objections from electors will be accepted and disposed of before October 8, with the final electoral roll published on October 12.