"Issue of duplicate votes is serious in Telangana": BRS leader Soma Bharath Kumar urges EC to extend SIR timeline to remove duplicate voter registrations
New Delhi, July 10
BRS leader Soma Bharath Kumar on Friday urged the Election Commission to extend the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise by one month, claiming that Telangana has around 20 lakh duplicate voter registrations and it would not be possible to complete the house-to-house enumeration within the remaining time.
Speaking after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Bharath Kumar said the issue of duplicate voter registrations was serious and reiterated the party's demand for "one citizen, one vote" across the country.
Soma Bharath Kumar said, "The issue of duplicate votes is serious in Telangana. Almost 20 lakh duplicate votes are there in Telangana... We want the voters to have one vote as a citizen in the country, any part of the country. This was brought to the notice of the Commission. The house-to-house program was initiated by the Commission. A time of one month was given, and 16 days have already been completed. It is impossible to complete the remaining work in the remaining time... We have requested the Commission to extend the time by 1 month for the enumeration process."
Another BRS leader, Vaddiraju Ravichandra, said the party had sought additional time for the revision exercise, arguing that most of the work could not be completed within the remaining 15 days.
Speaking to ANI, Vaddiraju Ravichandra said, "We said that 90% of the work cannot be completed in another 15 days, so we requested a time extension. Our party acted on instructions from KCR... KCR's goal is to ensure that no duplicate votes exist within any constituency..."
BRS leader B Vinod Kumar said the party also raised concerns over voters being enrolled in more than one constituency or state and requested the Election Commission to resolve the issue while ensuring that each voter is allowed only one valid registration.
Kumar said, "On the SIR, we made a representation regarding the voter being enrolled in one or more states. There is an issue which has to be sorted.... We requested the Election Commission of India to find out, delete or give an opportunity to the voter that he can cast his vote wherever he wants, but he cannot do it in more than one constituency... We had a very cordial discussion with the Chief Election Commissioner."
The BRS delegation met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar earlier in the day and submitted a representation seeking the identification and elimination of duplicate and multiple voter registrations while urging the Commission to extend the timeline for the ongoing enumeration process.
— ANI
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