Subhash Rai

The Union Home Minister is to visit Hyderabad on November 2 to lead a “Save Democracy” padayatra. He may wish to visit the homes of voters in Booths 150 and 151 of Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency in the city who find their names deleted from the draft SIR because they were supposed to be absent, shifted, dead or duplicate voters. They can be informed that democracy is thriving in the country. @HMOIndia @ECISVEEP @CEO_Telangana #SIR #Telangana Over the past fortnight, members of The Telangana Voter Rights Forum visited every voter in these booths. There were 1,829 persons on the 2025 electoral roll, Of them the names of 721 have been deleted from the draft SIR. Of the remaining 1,101 on the rolls, as many as 821 have been given notices…leaving only 280 persons of the earlier 1,829 as “SIR cleared”. The Forum held a public hearing in Secunderabad on Saturday 31 October where voters from the two booths came and spoke about their SIR experiences.. Here are details and brief summaries of testimonies of a few of them. Angry, upset and bewildered of why a basic constitutional right is now being denied to them: 1. Arun Kumar, Age 46, (EPIC No: GBZ1048487), Part no 150, Serial no 110: Arun Kumar and his wife have lived in the same address for years and they have voted a number of times in state and parliament elections; The couple submitted the SIR enumeration forms in time and received a signed acknowledgement too. Arun Kumar finds his name has been deleted as “untraceable/absent” while his wife remains on the rolls. He refuses to re-apply as a new voter on Form 6 because he says, “my vote is my right and I want to retain my past record”. 2. Riya Rawley (ZDR2960731), Age 49, Part 150, Serial no 86: Submitted her forms in time. Name deleted as “untraceable/absent” 3. Surekha Joshi, 51, (ZEU1408400), Part 150, Serial no 125: Has lived in the same home for 30 years. She submitted her forms in time, but finds herself removed as “untraceable/absent”, while others in the family at the same address are on the draft SIR roll 4. Venkatesh, Age 75, an autorickshaw driver, partially paralysed and can only speak with some difficulty. Registered voter. Submitted forms of both his wife and himself. He could not give his photograph in time. Name deleted; wants his vote back and original voter ID number to be retained. 6. Francis Thomas: Registered voter, submitted the enumeration form, where all detailed were also mapped to 2002 SIR as required. But he has now received notice for “logical discrepancy” 7 Safiya: Seven adults in the family with voter IDs, all of them submitted their enumeration forms in time. Six have been sent notices for “logical discrepancy”, the seventh has been deleted from the draft roll. 8. K Ganesh, Age 36, (GBZ1056738), Part No 150, Serial no 55: Has lived at the same address all his life; he submitted his forms in time, received a signed acknowledgement on the second copy, but has been marked as “Permanently Shifted” in the draft SIR rolls. 9. P. Kumar (GBZ76720700) Age 46, Part no 151, Serial no 159: He has been a registered voter since he turned 18. Form was given to his wife but not to him. Now deleted from the rolls as “Permanently Shifted” 10. Yadagiri and Chandrakala: Couple do “istri” (ironing) work in the area. Yadagiri was born in 1947 in Hyderabad. Cannot read or write but he has been a registered voter who has regularly voted. He has lived in the same area for decades but was not given the SIR enumeration forms and has now been told that his name and that of his wife have been deleted from the draft SIR as “Untraceable”. He says his vote is his “haq” and he refuses to re-register afresh with Form 6 by declaring he is a new voter. “Dead people get to be voters, why should my record of having voted be deleted?” 11. Karunamma, attended the hearing on behalf of her son K. Suresh, a registered voter, who could not be present. All the adults in the family received the SIR forms and submitted them but Suresh finds his name has been deleted as “Untraceable”. Karunamma says her son will not re-apply for a fresh registration with Form 6. “Why should he apply again by telling a lie that he has not voted before?” In Hyderabad, 20 lakh names are missing in the draft rolls, and another 12 lakhs have been served notices for discrepancies/missing documents. All of them need reassurance that democracy is thriving in the country.