Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll: BRS alleges manipulation of voters list, officials dismiss allegation

Hyderabad, Oct 13 (PTI) The BRS on Monday alleged that the party's internal field-level verification has uncovered "systemic manipulation" of the electoral roll, particularly the "unlawful inclusion of thousands of voters" whose actual residences lie outside the Jubilee Hills Assembly Constituency.

In a memorandum submitted to the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer, the party alleged that the registration of those individuals had been done without due diligence or proper verification by the Booth Level Officers (BLO) and Revenue Officers on the ground, suggesting connivance or gross negligence.

Bypoll for the Jubilee Hills Assembly segment is scheduled to be held on November 11.

The bypoll is necessitated in Jubilee Hills due to the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath in June this year following a heart attack.

"The scale and nature of these malpractices represent a profound mockery of democracy and a fundamental attack on the principle of free and fair elections. The actions are clearly designed to artificially inflate the voter base in favour of the Indian National Congress candidate in the Jubilee Hills Constituency," the BRS alleged.

The party has mentioned specific house numbers where it believed unlawful inclusion of voters was done.

Dismissing the specific allegations, the District Electoral officer in a post on 'X' said those names were part of the final rolls for the 2023 Telangana State Legislative Assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls last year.

"No new enrollments were made in the above addresses… In summary, it is observed that there is no change in number of electors in the above said house numbers since 2023, and the allegations that these are newly enrolled voters is completely false," the DEO said.

The BRS requested the CEO to take prompt and decisive action to preserve the sanctity of the electoral process and it is prepared to furnish the complete list and supporting documentation for all the specific instances cited herein to aid the investigation. PTI GDK KH