Hyderabad: In every assembly or Lok Sabha election in Telangana, there is one common complaint by the voters- “My vote got deleted from the electoral rolls.” These are not just isolated incidents, but part of a chronic and systemic issue. Thousands of votes go missing from every constituency, which is revealed at the polling booths, sending many voters back dejected and anguished. These voters, most of whom have an Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), but have not been able to exercise their franchise. These people have a big problem in the enumeration process presently underway, as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Social activist Dr Lubna Sarwath has flagged this issue to the Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana C Sudarshan Reddy on Friday, July 3, stating that such voters will find themselves deleted from the current electoral roll, and who, as per the process of SIR, will not be getting pre-printed SIR enumeration forms.

“Voters holding EPIC cards never received any notice on the suo moto unauthorised deletions,” she stated in her representation.

She also mentioned that people who never had their votes were being asked to fill up the Form 6. These voters were those who never had the EPIC card.

She expressed concerns over the undertaking that is being sought from such voters, asking them to sign stating that they never had an EPIC card, and if found otherwise, could be prosecuted under the Representation of People’s Act.

“We urge you to kindly issue an Order that such voters, who are aggrieved due to no fault of theirs, could fill in Form 6 during the SIR 2026 Enumeration process that is ongoing till July 24, 2026,” she urged the CEO.

She felt that if such deleted voters were allowed to take part in the enumeration process by filing some form with no strange conditions, lakhs of genuine votes that were deleted in the past, could be brought under the electoral process of democracy.

She informed Siasat.com that the CEO has responded positively, and has assured that he would issue appropriate letter in light of the request made in the representation.