SIR: Telangana may witness net deletion of close to 70 lakh names from electoral rolls

Telangana is staring at permanent deletion of close to 70 lakh voters from the electoral rolls by the end of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

With more than 73 lakh voters deleted in the draft rolls, and applications received for fresh enrolment not crossing 5 lakh during the claims and objections phase, the net final number of voters might end up lower than 2.7 crore, resulting in 20% deletions. Form 7 deletions constitute only a fraction of the total deletions.

The draft electoral rolls after enumeration phase were published on August 17, with 2,64,87,213 electors, down from previous year’s 3,38,26,448. A total 73,39,235 names were summarily deleted from the rolls. An additional 92,87,577 voters from the draft rolls were listed for issue of notices, as unmapped, or with anomalies.

Telangana election authorities have so far cleared a total of 72,47,873 voters who were either unmapped with 2002 SIR rolls or listed under anomalies/logical discrepancies.

They constitute over 78% of the total voters listed as unmapped or anomalies, leaving only about 22% still under process. A total 12,135 voters, constituting 0.13% of the total voters who received notices, have been listed as ineligible for final electoral rolls.

As per the data shared from the office of Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudarshan Reddy, a total 10,24,169 claims and objections by way of Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8 were received by October 7, the deadline for filing claims and objections as part of SIR.

Forms 6 and 6A pertain to new voter additions, Form 7 pertains to deceased or permanently shifted voters and Form 8 is for corrections of any kind.

Majority claims were filed for corrections, at 5,05,159, followed by 4,94,687 applications for inclusion in the voters’ list. A total 24,323 applications were filed for deletion of voters by way of Form 7, which has been at the centre of recent controversy with regard to applications for bulk deletions.

The claims and objections filed are still under process. A total 51,939 applications for inclusion in the voters’ list by way of Forms 6 and 6A have been cleared up to October 7, 2026, and the rolls have been updated. Form 7 deletions, which have been updated on the rolls after verification, stand at 12,204, while a total 2,27,721 corrections applied for are carried out.

Hyderabad district topped in the number of claims and objections filed, with 1,98,331 applications for inclusion, 6,335 forms for deletions, and 1,44,800 for corrections.