Ponnam challenges Ramchander Rao for debate on SIR

The issue cannot be addressed through police action or arrests, offering instead to personally present citizens whose names were omitted from the electoral rolls

Metro India News | Hyderabad 

Minister for BC Welfare and Transport Ponnam Prabhakar has openly challenged BJP state president N. Ramchander Rao to set a date and time for a face-to-face meeting, offering to produce documentary evidence and voters who were allegedly disenfranchised.In a statement issued on Sunday, the Minister asserted that he would establish the claims using official Election Commission records. He maintained that the issue cannot be addressed through police action or arrests, offering instead to personally present citizens whose names were omitted from the electoral rolls.

Lashing out at BJP leaders over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Ponnam Prabhakar claimed that even his own vote was targeted for deletion due to alleged clerical discrepancies in his father's name. The Minister alleged that approximately 70 lakh votes were deleted across Telangana, claiming the exercise selectively impacted SC, ST, BC, and minority communities opposed to the BJP.

He noted that poor citizens, daily-wage workers, senior citizens, and illiterate voters are being forced to navigate bureaucratic hurdles to prove their eligibility. Pointing to past instances where even former Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu faced voter roll issues, he emphasized the urgent need to safeguard every eligible citizen's franchise. Ponnam Prabhakar demanded that election authorities publish clear and comprehensive figures detailing total deletions, classifying them into ineligible voters and genuine voters wrongfully omitted due to administrative errors.

He added that making derogatory remarks against those raising democratic concerns goes against the spirit of democracy.