Panic over Telangana’s voter purge

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Booth Level Officers verify voter details at Aroor Village, Sadashivpet Mandal in Telangana’s Sangareddy District on July 15, 2026. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal

The ruling Congress party has sounded the alarm over Telangana’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls fearing a structural voter purge similar to, what it describes as, the “West Bengal and Assam model” where large-scale deletions allegedly altered electoral outcomes.

The concern was raised by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy during a recent Zoom meeting with senior party leaders, where the Chief Minister expressed strong displeasure over the manner in which the Congress had handled the ongoing SIR exercise. Mr. Reddy alerted his Cabinet colleagues and party cadre that a potential reduction of 21% in voter numbers could have serious consequences.

The Chief Minister criticised the party organisation for their “lackadaisical approach” during the field verification process. While Opposition parties were closely monitoring voter data and enrolment patterns, the Congress failed to deploy adequate Booth Level Agents to safeguard its voter base, he felt. This, he argued, allowed lapses in the electoral revision process to go unchecked.

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According to the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office, of the total electorate of 3,38,26,448 , a total of 2,64,86,214 enumeration forms have been digitised, representing a completion rate of 78.3%. The remaining 21.7% have been classified as “uncollectable”. In addition, nearly 20 lakh entries have reportedly been identified as technically inconsistent or unmapped. Together, these categories account for nearly 94 lakh electors who may face scrutiny during the revision process. The “uncollectable” category includes 9,22,230 deceased voters, 11,25,546 marked absent or untraceable, 45,18,961 listed as permanently shifted, 6,70,203 shown as enrolled elsewhere, and 1,02,294 classified under other categories.

The Congress leadership’s anxiety stems largely from the possibility that a disproportionate number of deletions could affect the voting rights of the poorer sections of society. The party’s electoral support base includes minorities, low-income households, and socio-economically weaker groups. From the Chief Minister’s perspective, the high number of ‘uncollectable’ forms is not merely an administrative issue but a matter with wider demographic implications. Drawing parallels with voter-list controversies witnessed in other States, Mr. Reddy asserted that, “losing a vote does not merely disenfranchise a citizen; it can also affect access to welfare-linked identity systems and government benefits,” he asserted.

Several factors are being cited for the unusually large number of affected voters.