SIR Drive Begins in Telangana, 36,000 BLOs Set to Knock on Doors

According to Chief Electoral Officer C Sudharsan Reddy, the door-to-door exercise will continue until July 24, after which the draft electoral roll will be published on July 31. The final roll will be published on October 1 after considering objections and hearings "The Election Commission does not intend to remove votes arbitrarily. Genuine voters need not worry. The main challenge would be time. The entire exercise has to be completed within the stipulated time," Reddy told PTI when asked about concerns expressed by some political parties.

He noted that more than 3,500 supervisors would oversee the BLOs, while over 1,000 senior officials would monitor the exercise above them.

The entire SIR 2026 programme will be carried out transparently, with strict adherence to the instructions and guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Reddy added.

Telangana has over 3.38 crore voters (as of 2025), of whom 2.38 crore had been mapped as of June 20, official sources said, adding that nearly 90 lakh electors had been identified with anomalies.

During their door-to-door visits, BLOs will distribute enumeration forms and assist voters in filling them out.

In addition, about 49,000 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) have also been trained to assist BLOs in the enumeration process.

Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday warned of strict action against any leader found violating the party's instructions regarding the implementation of the SIR campaign.

Participating in a Zoom meeting on the SIR exercise with party leaders, the Chief Minister instructed ministers, MLAs, MPs and constituency in-charges to remain extra vigilant during the electoral revision process amid reports of possible deletion of genuine voters' names from the electoral rolls.