Hyderabad: Hyderabad District Congress Committee (DCC) president Syed Khalid Saifullah announced a dharna over 93 lakh Telangana voters flagged in the ongoing SIR.
The protest will take place at Dharna Chowk. Saifullah also warned of a hunger strike if officials fail to release the voter lists.
He demanded immediate public access to the Anomaly/Logical Discrepancy and No-Mapping lists. He said political parties need the data to help affected voters.
According to Saifullah, 60,50,918 electors faced anomaly or logical discrepancy flags. Another 32,36,659 electors remained unmapped to the previous SIR roll.
Together, the figures covered 92,87,577 voters, or nearly 93 lakh people. Saifullah said political parties still lacked access to the lists.
“Nearly 93 lakh Telangana voters have been flagged, yet political parties have not been given access to these lists. How can political party BLAs help if they do not even know who has been flagged?” he asked.
The Congress leader said his party had repeatedly raised the matter with the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana. He cited personal representations, written submissions and media statements.
“We have exhausted every democratic avenue available to us. Yet the basic information concerning nearly 93 lakh voters continues to be withheld,” he said.
The TPCC Election Commission Coordination Committee also wrote to the CEO several times. Its first cited communication came on August 17, followed by another on September 3.
Saifullah said the committee sought Assembly constituency-wise anomaly lists. It also asked officials to provide reasons for each anomaly.
Telangana voters flagged and Congress transparency demand
Saifullah cited practices followed in other states while seeking similar disclosure for Telangana voters flagged under the SIR.
He said Karnataka published lists of people who received notices, along with the reasons. Puducherry also placed Logical Discrepancy lists in the public domain.
He further said many districts in Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh had published similar information. Therefore, he questioned why Telangana could not follow those transparency measures.
“If this information can be disclosed elsewhere, why should nearly 93 lakh Telangana voters be denied the same transparency?” he asked.
Saifullah also referred to the Supreme Court’s January 19, 2026 order on the SIR in West Bengal. He said the order stressed public access to logical-discrepancy lists.
He added that the order recognised the role of Booth Level Agents, or BLAs, in helping affected voters.
Saifullah then set out the Congress demand for the Telangana voter lists. He sought booth-wise Anomaly/Logical Discrepancy and No-Mapping lists, along with reasons.
He also demanded that political parties and their BLAs receive access. This, he said, would allow them to assist every affected voter before the process moved further.
Meanwhile, Saifullah said the Congress had already submitted applications seeking permission for the peaceful dharna at Dharna Chowk.
He warned that the protest would not end with the dharna if authorities withheld the lists. Instead, he said he would begin a hunger strike.
“If the lists are still not released after the dharna, I will sit on a hunger strike. We will continue this democratic struggle until transparency is ensured and every genuine voter’s right is protected,” he said.
