Hyderabad: Nazari Naksha, the Intensive Revision Of Electoral Rolls (IRER) undertaken by GHMC in the 15 Assembly constituencies, has detected thousands of fictitious voters.

In the Khairatabad constituency, 12,000 non existing voters were deleted. The invalid voters were mostly falling under categories like death. Duplicate entries were found in large numbers in constituencies in city’s south corridor and the peripheral belt like Kapra, LB Nagar, Kukatpally and Quthbullapur.

In a pilot project, the GHMC is sending booth level officers to every household. So far, 7.5 lakh voters have been covered under this.

This exercise will put an end to bogus voting. Nearly 8 lakh bogus voters are expected to be axed from the list after the new exercise, said a source.

The Election Commission of India has issued a revised schedule for conducting the IRER. The GHMC is undertaking the pilot project as part of the IRER.

Earlier, voters living in the same house were allocated booths in different polling stations. Cases like death and duplication have to be personally reported to the Election Commission for deleting the names from the list. Due to this, multiple voting was difficult to curb. The IRER survey, however, has changed this with help of software.

Under the new programme, voters will be registered within their local booth area or the local police station limit. This will help weed out multiple voting.

Besides, the inspecting officer will physically check if the voter is present, dead, shifted or bogus.

In case of a correction, the voter can approach the EC. New eligible voters can also register under the IRER.

GHMC is also linking the house number with the voter cards. “The new house numbering system is assigned wherever it is missing. In case voters have shifted, their names will be recorded accordingly,” said GHMC commissioner Dr B Janardhan Reddy. This exercise will put an end to bogus voting, said a source.

What they say
The deletion of fictitious voters has upset a few elected representatives, as it will decrease their vote bank. Despite welcoming the move, Politicians from various parties have a different say on the revision of electoral rolls.

Naraparaju Ramchander Rao,
Naraparaju Ramchander Rao

The revision of voters’ list in Hyderabad has to be undertaken carefully. Bogus voters have to be eradicated. Invalid voters are present in many constituencies. The geo tagging and location of polling booths should be scientific to enable voters to locate the polling booths in their areas. The revision of the voters’ list will have an impact on the next elections. So, the results will be surprising.
Naraparaju Ramchander Rao,
MLC, BJP city president.

Mynampally Hanmanth Rao
Mynampally Hanmanth Rao

The IRER will make the voting process transparent. The polling stations are mapped online. Inspectors will visit houses to verify the existing details. New voters can also register. All kinds of duplications will be cleared.
Mynampally Hanmanth Rao,
TRS Greater Hyderabad President.

Marri Shashidhar Reddy
Marri Shashidhar Reddy

I welcome the Intensive Revision Of Electoral Rolls (IRER). In 2015, the Chief Minister had instructed the chief election officer and the GHMC commissioner to delete 15 lakh bogus voters. I am not sure whether such instructions are given this time also.
Marri Shashidhar Reddy,
Senior leader from the Congress.

Syed Amin Jafri, AIMIM, MLC
Syed Amin Jafri, AIMIM, MLC

Every year the election commission takes up the summary revision. But the intensive revision will make a fresh list by linking the house numbers. The AIMIM has been asking the election commission to conduct the intensive revision as the summary revision may not be of great help. The IREA will clean up the list and all eligible voters will get a chance to enrol.
Syed Amin Jafri,
AIMIM, MLC .