There is a high likelihood of a large number of genuine electors being kept out of the final rolls after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls in Telangana. They constitute not only the voters excluded from the draft electoral rolls and those deleted during Claims & Objections phase but also applicants whose Form-6 were rejected.
The number of rejections constitutes close to 27% of the total Form-6 applications processed during Pre-SIR and SIR phases, which is very high.
A total of 10,77,450 Form-6 applications were received from 119 constituencies across Telangana, of which, 5,20,331 were received during the six month pre-SIR phase between January 1, 2026, and June 14, 2026. During the Enumeration Phase and before publication of draft electoral rolls, between June 15, 2026, and August 16, 2026, a total 3,18,042 applications were received for new voter registration.
The number of Form-6 applications received during Claims & Objections phase, when the Election Commission of India (ECI) publicised and exhorted the new and deleted voters to get themselves registered, was only 1,70,374. Post the Claims & Objections period which ended on October 7, 2026, till October 28, 2026, a total 68,703 Form-6 applications were received.
Of all these applications, a total 2,43,643 were rejected, as per the information shared from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). This is close to 23%, calculated on the total number of applications received. Considering that a total 1,61,214 applications are still pending verification, the rejection rate climbs to 27%, which is unusual.
Majority of these rejections were made during the pre-SIR phase. Of the 5,20,331 applications received during this phase, a total 1,92,574 were rejected, which amounts to 37% rejection rate.
Together with the total deletions effected during the pre-SIR and SIR phases, the exclusions from the electoral roll could be well over 80 lakh.
The number of voters excluded during the Enumeration Phase constitutes the largest chunk of the total deletions, at 73,39,235. Over 4.54 lakh voters were deleted through filing of Form-7 even before the SIR exercise began. Official records show that during the six month period between January 1, 2026 and June 14, 2026, a total 5,13,375 Form-7 applications were filed for deletion of names from rolls or objecting to the inclusion of names. Of these, 4,54,340 were accepted.
While officials claim that they were Demographically Similar Entries and Photo Similar Entries sifted by an application on the ECINET software, no explanation was given for 47,303 Form-7 applications which were rejected during the same period.
On the whole, starting from January 1, 2026, a total 5,81,273 Form-7 applications were filed, of which, 5,08,057 were accepted. These include the electors found ineligible for final roll during notice period. Only 54,681 Form-7 applications were rejected, and 18,535 are under process.
Of the 50,502 electors found ineligible for final rolls, 19,535 were rejected citing logical discrepancies, and 30,207 for not mapping themselves with 2002 SIR rolls. A total 2,58,04,484 electors have been parked for final publication, including 89,63,065 electors who were served notices. Electors for whom hearing is still pending or who are yet to be served notices number over a lakh.
Published – October 29, 2026 09:20 am IST
