Poll Body Stops Telangana Rolls Revision, To Update Voter List Next Month

Clearing a key technical hurdle to organising early assembly elections in Telangana, the Election Commission of India on Saturday announced that a final voter list will be published on October 8. The poll body suspended the ongoing process of revision of electoral rolls in the wake of premature dissolution of the state assembly and declared a new schedule for revision.

Telangana's Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said under the new schedule, an integrated draft electoral roll will be published on September 10.

Claims and objections can be filed from September 10 to September 25 while disposal of claims and objections will be taken up on October 4. Updating database and printing of supplement will be completed before October 7.

October 8 will be the date for final publication of the electoral roll, which means elections may be held any time after this date.

As per the schedule announced earlier, all new voters who will complete the age of 18 on January 1, 2019, would be eligible to submit applications to include their names in the voter list.

Under the second special summary revision announced on Saturday, those who completed the age of 18 on January 1, 2018 can still submit their requests for inclusion of their names.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao dissolved state assembly on Thursday, nearly nine months before its term was to end, to clear the way for early elections.

The Election Commission has indicated that the polls in Telangana could be held at the year-end along with four other states where elections are due.

The poll body on Friday announced that it will send a team to Telangana on September 11 to study the poll preparedness of state machinery.