Hyderabad SIR deletions exceed 2023 winning margins in all 15 constituencies, finds Sabar Institute
A draft electoral roll published on 17 August 2026 under the Election Commission of India's ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) recorded 19,41,444 deletions across the 15 Assembly constituencies of Hyderabad district.
A Kolkata-based public policy research organisation compared these draft-roll deletions against the winning margins of the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections and found that in every one of the 15 constituencies, the number of deletions exceeded the 2023 winning margin; in two constituencies, deletions exceeded the total votes polled in 2023.
The analysis also found that deletions attributed to electors with Muslim-identifiable names ranged from 12.1% to 85.9% across constituencies, averaging 40.7% of total Hyderabad deletions, based on name-based classification.
Statewide in Telangana, SIR recorded about 73.39 lakh deletions (roughly 21.3% of the electorate), categorised as permanently shifted or absent electors, deceased electors, and multiple/duplicate enrolments.
The claims-and-objections window under SIR remains open; election authorities noted that the comparison used different roll reference dates (January 2023 versus the SIR qualifying/freeze date of 12 May 2026), which can affect like-for-like comparisons.
Article 324 — Election Commission's Power over Electoral Rolls
Article 324(1) of the Constitution vests the "superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections" to Parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President in the Election Commission of India (ECI). This is one of the ECI's core constitutional powers, distinct from its statutory functions under election laws, and the Supreme Court has held that where enacted law is silent, the ECI has residuary power under Article 324 to act to ensure free and fair elections.
The Hyderabad deletions arise directly from the ECI exercising its Article 324 roll-preparation power through SIR; any dispute over the legality or fairness of the exercise is adjudicated with reference to this constitutional provision.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the Representation of the People Act, 1950
SIR is a periodic, more rigorous house-to-house revision of electoral rolls (as against the routine "Summary Revision") conducted by the ECI under its statutory mandate flowing from the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RPA 1950), which governs preparation and revision of electoral rolls, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 framed under it. It uses Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to enumerate households, verify existing entries, and flag electors who are deceased, have permanently shifted, or hold duplicate/multiple enrolments across constituencies.
Key Details
- Statutory basis: Representation of the People Act, 1950 (roll preparation) and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
- The Supreme Court (bench led by the Chief Justice of India) upheld SIR's constitutional validity in a ruling delivered on 27 May 2026, holding it consonant with the ECI's Article 324 obligation to ensure free and fair elections.
- Deletion categories typically used: permanently shifted/absent, deceased, and multiple/duplicate enrolment.
The Hyderabad and Telangana deletion figures cited in the report are draft-stage outputs of the SIR exercise; the process is not yet final, as claims and objections were still open at the time of the report.
Safeguards Against Wrongful Deletion — Form 7 and the Appeal Chain
To prevent arbitrary or wrongful removal of genuine electors, electoral law provides layered safeguards before a deletion becomes final. A deletion (or objection to inclusion) is formally initiated or contested using Form 7, prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 (framed under the RPA, 1950). Before any name is deleted for being untraceable, BLOs must make repeated verification attempts and record reasons in the prescribed enumeration format; the draft roll is then published for a statutory claims-and-objections period before finalisation.
Key Details
- Form 7 is used both to object to a name's inclusion and to seek deletion of a name from the electoral roll; any registered elector, including party-nominated Booth Level Agents, can file it.
- ECI safeguards include a minimum of two to three verification attempts by BLOs before treating an elector as untraceable, and a mandatory notice-and-hearing before deletion.
- Appeal against an Electoral Registration Officer's (ERO) decision lies with the District Magistrate or a designated appellate authority, with further recourse to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO); judicial review before constitutional courts remains available thereafter.
The Sabar Institute's findings are based on the draft roll — deletions at this stage are contestable through the Form 7/appeal mechanism before the final roll is published, which is central to evaluating whether the reported deletion numbers will hold.
- Total Hyderabad deletions in the SIR draft roll: 19,41,444 across 15 Assembly constituencies.
- Deletions exceeded the 2023 winning margin in all 15 constituencies; in Malakpet and Yakutpura, deletions exceeded total votes polled in 2023.
- Muslim-identifiable-name electors accounted for 40.7% of total Hyderabad deletions (range: 12.1% to 85.9% across constituencies).
- Statewide Telangana SIR deletions: about 73.39 lakh (21.3% of the electorate) — permanently shifted/absent 57.46 lakh (16.99%), deceased 9.2 lakh (2.73%), multiple enrolments 6.7 lakh (1.98%).
- Draft roll publication date: 17 August 2026; SIR qualifying/freeze date used for comparison: 12 May 2026; base comparison roll: January 2023.
- Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of SIR on 27 May 2026.