SIR exercise set to delay local body polls in Telangana

Hyderabad: Local body polls in the state are likely to be delayed as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll is still underway.Election officials said a fresh electoral roll is essential before conducting elections for MPTCs, ZPTCs, and municipal corporations, and the revised list is expected to be finalised only on Oct 1. From June 25 to July 24, booth-level officers will distribute enumeration forms as part of the revision process. This will be followed by the publication of the draft roll, receipt of objections and claims, scrutiny, and final publication.Officials said the same administrative machinery required for local body elections is currently fully engaged in the voter list revision. Collectors, RDOs, MROs, panchayat staff, and other field-level personnel are involved in the process, leaving little scope to conduct elections simultaneously.The Election Commission of India has already issued the revision schedule, and state election authorities are making arrangements to implement it. Because of this, officials indicated that holding local elections in the near term would be difficult.Political parties are also concentrating on the SIR exercise. In view of controversies over voter deletions in other states, parties are closely monitoring the revision and appointing representatives at the booth level. Leaders are holding meetings and review sessions, treating the voter list update as a critical exercise that could influence future election outcomes.Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is simultaneously focusing on membership registration, further reducing political attention on immediate local polls.With both the administration and political parties occupied, elections to pending local bodies, including major municipal corporations such as Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Medchal, Warangal, Khammam, Siddipet, Achampet, and Kothur, are unlikely before Oct and may be pushed to after Dussehra. Some estimates suggest polling could take place three to four months later.Officials said the revised voter list will remove duplicate entries, names of deceased voters, and those registered elsewhere. The final roll will then be used for upcoming local body and assembly elections across urban and rural areas.Parties focus on first-time voters through SIR processHyderabad: All political parties, including Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which are gearing up for the SIR process, are also viewing it as an opportunity for voter outreach. Parties are organising training camps for Booth Level Agents (BLAs) involved in the SIR exercise.BRS working president KT Rama Rao told party cadre to connect with first-time voters during the SIR process and build sustained contact with them.“Tell them about what the BRS govt had done for the constituency in the past and make sure they vote for BRS in GHMC elections and later in the assembly elections as well,” he said.