Don’t take SIR lightly, Revanth tells Congress leaders

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy called upon Congress leaders and workers across the State to remain vigilant during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, warning that the deletion of genuine voters could have serious political consequences ahead of future elections.

Addressing an online meeting organised by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) led by TPCC president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, the Chief Minister said there could be attempts to remove voters on various grounds, including suspicion, and stressed that such developments should be closely monitored.

Addressing the meeting, Mr. Revanth Reddy said the voters’ list that would be finalised by October 2026 would form the basis for the 2028 elections and cautioned that any loss of votes now would be difficult to rectify later. He directed party leaders to establish close coordination with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in every village and booth across all 119 Assembly constituencies and ensure that voters who had temporarily migrated were not removed from the electoral rolls due to their absence during verification.

The Chief Minister instructed district in-charge ministers to review the progress of the exercise with parliamentary and Assembly constituency in-charges by June 20. He also called for the establishment of monitoring systems at district, Parliamentary and Assembly constituency levels to address issues immediately. A dedicated war room would be set up at Gandhi Bhavan to facilitate booth-level monitoring, he said.

Describing the revision exercise as a ‘very serious matter’, Mr. Revanth Reddy urged party functionaries not to take the process lightly and warned that negligence could result in electoral setbacks.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka asked party leaders to identify knowledgeable activists and attach them to BLOs to assist voters and monitor the verification process.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Mahesh Kumar Goud alleged that there was a risk of pro-Congress votes being deleted during voter mapping and verification exercises and stressed the need to closely monitor unmapped and doubtful votes.

AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan alleged that voter deletion had become a major concern in several parts of the country and urged Congress workers to remain vigilant.