Hyderabad, June 29 (IANS) Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) leader K. Kavitha on Monday demanded a clarification from the Election Commission of India regarding the presence of 1 lakh voters in the Kodangal constituency, represented by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy changing their details in the last one-and-a-half years.
Citing official records and the evidence TRS compiled, she said that 1 lakh of the 2.46 lakh voters in Kodangal had their voter details modified in the last 18 months.
The former MP told the media that the Election Commission must publicly clarify how such large-scale changes occurred. She said that over 11,000 voters also appear on Karnataka’s electoral rolls, and that around 33,000 duplicate voter entries have been identified, more than the winning margin in 2023. She added that these findings raise serious questions about the integrity of the electoral rolls.
Kavitha said if the Chief Minister won by almost the same margin, the Election Commission must explain whether these duplicate and inter-state votes influenced the result.
According to Kavitha, her party’s scrutiny of the electoral rolls found 22,433 duplicate voter entries in Kodangal. She further alleged that around 11,000 voters are simultaneously enrolled in Kodangal and Karnataka’s neighbouring Sedam Assembly constituency, raising questions over the Election Commission’s ability to detect inter-state duplication.
She said this discrepancy was raising suspicions, and doubts were being expressed about whether the Election Commission was acting favourably toward the Chief Minister. She added that the Election Commission should respond to this matter and reveal all the details to the public.
“It’s not just money that is crossing from Karnataka into Telangana. Are votes also being transferred?” she asked.
Calling for systemic reforms, Kavitha said the country should move towards “One Nation, One Election, One Vote”, where every eligible citizen has only one valid voter registration irrespective of migration. She added that if inter-state duplicate voters are not identified, the entire purpose of the SIR exercise is defeated, raising questions over the effectiveness of the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive.
Stating that transparency is essential to maintaining public trust, she claimed that only 808 votes were removed in Kodangal in recent years. Kavitha wanted to know how nearly 7,000 votes were removed in the Bodhan constituency. The TRS leader is likely to contest from Bodhan in the next Assembly election.
–IANS
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