Hyderabad could see large-scale deletions in SIR due to residents moving home

The poll percentage in the state capital could see a significant improvement in the next election, with a major threat of wiping out large numbers of voters during the upcoming House-to-House count for a special intensive review.

A large number of city dwellers who have changed their residence but did not vote could be at risk of losing their names as voters in a special intensive revision of electoral rolls that is scheduled to begin in Telangana on June 25 and last for a month.

Officials informed on condition of anonymity that the census could at best add 10-15% more voters to the 46.69% voters already mapped in the pre-SIR exercise. Actual voters in the city would not exceed 60% of the number shown in the 2025 electoral rolls.

According to the existing lists, Hyderabad district has about 47.37 million voters, Ranga Reddy district has nearly 37 million voters and Medchal Malkajgiri has 29.79 million voters.

During the census, booth-level officers, armed with the 2025 electoral roll, will go door-to-door, distributing and collecting census forms. They were instructed to visit only the voters listed in their respective polling stations and not all households.

The BLO was also directed to mark absentee, dead and displaced voters separately so that they can be removed from the voter list.

In the case of voters who moved home but did not register as voters at the new location, the BLO would not even visit the new address for enumeration. At the previous location, the BLO would have marked them as “shifted” if the voter was not present at the time of the visit.

The only option allowed to such residents is to proactively approach the BLO and register as voters by filling Form 6 again, Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudarshan Reddy said at a media conference on Saturday. If they do not do so, their names will be deleted from the draft electoral lists.

Since a large number of the city’s residents are immigrants from other districts and even from other states, the draft voter lists may be reduced by thousands of items this time. Without an election, voters may be unlikely to proactively register with the BLO by obtaining a Form 6.

This could also be a blow to residents who would prefer to keep their vote in their home village unless their family members there fill in the census forms for them.

Mr. Sudharshan Reddy has categorically stated that no extension will be granted for the SIR process and the names of those who do not return the filled enumeration forms to the BLO will be deleted from the list. He said the census forms would be printed in English for city voters on the request of all political parties.

Published – 20 Jun 2026 21:40 IST