Congress, BRS, MIM parties allowing ‘illegal infiltrators’ in voter rolls: Telangana BJP chief

N Ramchander Rao, Telangana BJP president. File | Photo credit: RAMAKRISHNA G

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Telangana President N. Ramchander Rao said on Monday (June 15, 2026) that the Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) parties are against the Election Commission’s “SIRillegal” special intensive voter protection process.

At a press conference at the party’s state office in Hyderabad, Mr. Rao claimed to have information indicating that 5,000 to 10,000 individuals “who have entered the country illegally from Pakistan are staying in Hyderabad” and demanded that the parties respond to these public allegations.

He further alleged that the names of “illegal infiltrators” were being added to electoral rolls in parts of the Old City and alleged that they were providing Aadhaar and ration cards with political support with the support of these parties. Mr Rao also raised wider concerns about illegal immigration across the Indian border, citing alleged entries by Bangladeshis, Rohingyas and other groups.

Complaints of similar matters have been reported from states such as Bihar and West Bengal, and that comparable suspicions are now emerging in Hyderabad. He accused the Congress of benefiting from “fake votes” in the past.

Defending the SIR exercise, Mr Rao said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had “no moral right” to talk about “vote theft” and argued that the revision process was meant to protect legitimate voters. “A clean and transparent electoral roll is essential to strengthen democracy. No eligible vote of an Indian citizen will be taken away – only ineligible names will be struck out,” he said.

He stressed that the SIR was not a new initiative and had been carried out several times across the country to update voters’ lists by removing names of deceased persons, those who had moved and correcting errors. He also argued that the process has judicial support, including that of the Supreme Court, which emphasized the need for accurate electoral rolls.

Attributing election results to the SIR process was an “insult to democracy”, he argued, saying that it was the electorate – not the SIR – who decided the outcome of the election. If the BJP benefited in West Bengal because of SIR, how did the United Democratic Front (UDF) win in Kerala, he asked. He also urged political parties to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to actively scrutinize the electoral rolls during the revision process and warned against blaming any irregularities later on the Election Commission.

Published – 15 Jun 2026 16:11 IST