Opposition accuses TRS government of deleting 15 lakh voters name ahead of civic polls

Hyderabad: The opposition has accused the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government of deleting voters names from the list before Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election. Even though the TRS has cited change of residence, door locked, duplicate ID as some of the reason behind the move, the citizens complained that their names have been deleted without any inquiry or verification.

Mahesh, a resident, said, "This is my voter ID. And I see my name has been deleted. The reason mentioned is expired but I am here alive. How can this be done without checking."

It's a similar story in other areas too. One Shreekanth Kasoju, who has been living in Balkampet area with his family since childhood, saw his and his wife's name being deleted from the voters' list.

Shreekanth said, "I have been living in the same house since childhood with my family. They say door was locked, but some one is always present in my house. When I questioned GHMC, there has been no response."

Smelling a conspiracy before GHMC elections, Congress alleged that deletion of names were done specially in areas where people could vote against the ruling TRS government. Till September 16, around 6.3 lakh voters have been removed from the list.

The Congress has accused Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of removing 15 lakh voters under the pretext of being bogus. Till September 16, 6.3 lakh voters have been removed from the list. Missing from voter list are -- settlers 35%, Muslims 30% and Hindi-speaking North Indians 10%. The opposition alleged that deletions were made without following proper procedures.

Congress leader Shashidhar Reddy said, "It's a huge fraud. Notices were not sent. It is mandatory for the GHMC to issue a notice before deleting the voter name. We request Election Commission to freeze the process.

The government is firm on its stand claims that names were deleted after due verification and issuing of notices. The opposition has now planned to take up the matter legally.

The government claimed that the process was to delete bogus votes, but the opposition parties see a conspiracy by ruling the TRS governemnt to win GHMC election. With people coming out with evidences to complain about illegal deletion of their names, the government has lot to answer.