HYDERABAD

Deputy Floor Leader of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Assembly and former Minister T. Harish Rao expressed concern over the ongoing process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged that the BJP-led Central government is using the exercise to remove names of voters’, who are the supporters of other parties, across the country.

Speaking at a meeting with party functionaries in Warangal on Sunday, he said reports from different parts of the country were suggesting that certain political parties had suffered electorally due to large-scale deletion of votes. He stated that political parties must understand their role in the polling booth-level verification process and actively participate to protect voters’ rights.

He said the SIR process was undertaken once every 20 years and had been conducted twice in the past. The ongoing process has been initiated across the country once again in 2026. He urged Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to remain vigilant and actively participate in the process and observed that the exercise would be more challenging in urban areas such as Hanamkonda and Warangal than in rural regions.

Citing Siddipet as an example, he said family mapping under the SIR process was completed nearly 99% in villages, whereas it had reached only about 62% in Siddipet town. He stressed the need for party workers to clearly understand the concept of family mapping and its importance.

He noted that elections to municipal bodies in Hyderabad, Warangal and Khammam were still pending and said the extent of participation by BRS cadres in the SIR process would directly impact the party’s performance in future elections, including the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation polls.

Mr. Harish Rao asked former corporators and aspiring corporator candidates to take a proactive role in the process. He explained that the first phase of the SIR exercise involves family grouping and that Anganwadi workers and resource persons had been appointed to assist in the process at the booth level. He said political parties had been formally included in the process and that Booth Level Agents should work closely with Booth Level Officers.

He instructed party workers to immediately lodge complaints wherever Booth Level Officers fail to cooperate. Explaining the process further, Mr. Harish Rao said family grouping forms the foundation of the SIR exercise. Individuals who had voting rights in 2002 would serve as reference points and the details of their family members would be linked accordingly.