Saying it is “fearful of politics” over the revision of the electoral roll, the BJP is demanding an inquiry into Singareni

HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao has accused the Congress, BRS and MIM of deliberately spreading “fear and panic” by falsely claiming that Muslim votes will be wiped out during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR) by the Election Commission.

“No genuine voter from any community will be struck off the electoral rolls,” he said, stressing that the SIR exercise is solely aimed at removing “dead, duplicate and fake voters as well as illegal Rohingyas” from the electoral rolls.

Mr. Rao claimed that similar exercises elsewhere did not lead to political bias. Referring to West Bengal, he claimed that most of the deleted votes were of Hindu votes and that the Trinamool Congress still won in the areas where the deletion was highest.

On Friday, at a BJP workshop in Nagola for Ranga Reddy district, Urban alleged that the Congress and BRS routinely “mislead” people by blaming the SIR process whenever the BJP performs well, while remaining silent on states like Kerala where the Congress registers electoral gains.

Mr Rao reiterated his stance, saying that while every eligible Indian citizen has the right to vote, “foreigners – Rohingyas and illegal Bangladeshi immigrants – have no place on the Indian electoral roll”. He stressed that identifying and removing “fake and illegal votes” is essential to maintaining electoral integrity.

He urged BJP workers, especially booth-level representatives, to be actively involved in the SIR process by going door-to-door, assisting voters, identifying duplicate and deceased entries and ensuring that genuine voters remain on the rolls. The party cadre was also asked to counter “false propaganda” and clarify public doubts about the exercise.

“This is an initiative of the Election Commission to clean up the voter rolls. It is our responsibility to support it, protect genuine voters and ensure the removal of fake and illegal names,” he added.

SCCL probe

In a separate development, BJP Legislature Party Leader A. Maheshwar Reddy called for a comprehensive inquiry into the decisions regarding public funds, contracts and expenditure of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) during both the BRS regime and the current government.

Mr. Reddy, who was prevented from visiting the mines by the police, later told the media that SCCL is a key state asset that provides employment to thousands of people and must operate in complete transparency. He raised several concerns, including the award of Tadicherla coal block to a private firm instead of SCCL, absence of coal connectivity from Naini mines to Singareni thermal power plant and alleged irregularities in high-value contracts for machinery, solar projects, purchase of diesel and gelatin. He also pointed to a reported discrepancy of four million tonnes in this year’s coal records and called for a thorough and transparent investigation into all such matters.

Published – 19 Jun 2026 20:18 IST