Hyderabad (Telangana)

Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao on Tuesday asserted that the Special Revision Process (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state here has no "political overtones" but rather just a routine exercise by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Speaking to ANI, Rao explained that the objective of the SIR is to refine the voter rolls by identifying and removing discrepancies, drawing a parallel to similar drives conducted in West Bengal and other states.

"Like in Bengal and other places, where the fake voters and illegal immigrants are there, they will be deleted. And what Bengal has done, or what the SIR has done, is detect, delete, and deport. So this is what a voter list has to see--whether the voter list contains the real names, whether there are any fake voters in there, whether there are any dead voters, or whether there are any transferred and shifted voters. So SIR has no political overtones in it. It is a regular exercise done by the Election Commission of India," he said.

Meanwhile, Telangana Congress has called for the SIR process to be conducted with "transparency".

A delegation of state Congress leaders met with the State Chief Electoral Officer over the issue earlier, urging that the SIR process be conducted with complete transparency and be extended for a period of time since no major elections are scheduled in the state.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on May 14 announced the conduct of Special Intensive Revision Phase-III of electoral rolls across 16 States and three Union Territories, covering over 36 crore electors in a phased manner, including Telagana.

According to the press note issued by the Commission, the exercise has been planned in coordination with the ongoing house listing component of the Census to ensure optimal use of field machinery.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) schedule has been outlined for multiple States and Union Territories with clearly defined timelines for each stage of the electoral roll process.

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For Telangana and Punjab, the qualifying date is October 1, 2026. The preparation phase will be conducted from June 15, 2026, to June 24, 2026, followed by BLO visits from June 25, 2026, to July 24, 2026. Rationalisation will be completed by July 24, 2026.

The draft roll will be published on July 31, 2026, with claims and objections open from July 31, 2026, to August 30, 2026. The notice phase and disposal will continue from July 31, 2026, to September 28, 2026, and the final roll will be published on October 1, 2026.