Telangana CEO orders probe into alleged discrepancies in voters' list

Hyderabad, Aug 27: Telangana’s Chief Electoral Officer, Vikas Raj has directed District Election Officers to verify the complaints received about alleged discrepancies in voters’ list in four Assembly constituencies in Greater Hyderabad.

He asked them to put special emphasis on detailed verification of every aspect of the complaints received and to take corrective measures and submit reports in detail.

The CEO conducted an elaborate review meeting in connection with complaints received in Bahadurpura, Goshamahal, Nampally and Serilingampally constituencies.

District Election Officers of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and enquiry officers of the Assembly constituencies participated in the meeting. All relevant records were also verified in detail.

The Chief Electoral Officer also conducted a video conference with all DEOs, EROs, AEROs and reviewed the progress of ongoing second Special Summary Revision (SSR).

All districts were asked to put maximum effort in enrollment of 18-19 age group, gender cohort of 18-19 age group, marking of PwD (persons with disabilities) voters in electoral roll, 100 per cent enrollment of transgenders and sex workers.

According to a statement from the CEO's office, he issued comprehensive instructions to all DEOs, AROs and AEROs to adhere to different methods of campaigning to attract the youth particularly aged 18-19 to enroll as voters. The CEO directed all the District Election Officers towards improving the voter participation and for improving voting percentage in the ensuing Assembly elections. 

In addition, the Chief Electoral Officer instructed the DEOs to attend to the complaints forwarded from CEO office and ECI immediately and send factual report to CEO office without delay. The Chief Electoral Officer further instructed all DEOs to immediately establish a separate team to attend to election related complaints. 

Additional Chief Electoral Officer Lokesh Kumar,, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Sarfaraz Ahmad, ACEOs participated in the special meeting and also video conference.

Assembly elections in Telangana are slated to be held in November-December.