Hyderabad: Former Minister and BRS Deputy Floor Leader Talasani Srinivas Yadav has demanded that Election Commission officials take responsibility for registering every eligible graduate as a voter, expressing concern over delays and alleged lapses in the ongoing Graduate MLC voter registration process.
On Monday, a delegation of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) representatives led by Talasani Srinivas Yadav met State Chief Electoral Officer Sudarshan Reddy at BRK Bhavan and submitted a representation highlighting delays in graduate voter registration and the Election Commission’s alleged failure to fulfil its responsibilities.
Addressing a media conference alongside MLCs Dasoju Sravan and Surabhi Vani Devi, and MLA Kaleru Venkatesh, Talasani emphasised that the voter registration process must be conducted under the direct supervision of the Election Commission.
He criticised the authorities for failing to appoint Booth Level Officers (BLOs), even though the deadline for graduate voter registration is November 6. He stated that the process should be carried out in coordination with Central and State Government employees, but alleged that no effective steps had been taken in this direction.
Talasani also questioned the absence of public awareness campaigns and outreach programmes encouraging eligible graduates to register. He expressed concern that even those who had voted in previous Graduate MLC elections were being asked to register again, stating that officials had failed to provide a satisfactory explanation.
According to the figures shared by Election Commission officials, approximately 1.10 lakh voters had registered within Hyderabad city limits during the previous Graduate MLC elections, whereas only 23,000 applications had reportedly been received so far in the current process. Talasani questioned the significant difference in these figures.
He further stated that officials had announced the receipt of 5.27 lakh applications across the combined Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Mahabubnagar districts, but alleged that verification of the applications had not yet begun.
Expressing strong dissatisfaction, Talasani accused the Election Commission of treating graduates as though their participation in the democratic process was not a priority. He said that the BRS had been working to collect applications from eligible graduates because of the alleged shortcomings in the official process. However, he claimed that when party representatives approached officials to submit applications in bulk, they were told that applicants themselves had to appear and that bulk submissions would not be accepted.
He also criticised the Commission’s response to concerns over the removal of lakhs of names from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, alleging that officials were not taking adequate responsibility for addressing the issue.
Talasani urged the Election Commission to act responsibly, deploy sufficient staff and conduct door-to-door outreach to identify and register all eligible graduates before the deadline. He added that the Chief Minister’s own remarks about the slow pace of voter registration highlighted concerns about the functioning of the system.
Those present included former corporation chairpersons Koletti Damodar Gupta, Manne Krishank and Gajjela Nagesh; constituency party in-charges Anand Goud, Maganti Sunitha and Azam; and voter registration programme coordinators Gosula Srinivas Yadav, Venkat Reddy and Shekhar Reddy, among others.
