Hyderabad, Sep 7 (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday said it is a necessity that the Congress, Communists and other secular forces should unite to fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking at a meeting organised in memory of CPI(M) leader Sarampalli Malla Reddy, who died recently, he alleged that the Centre is removing anti-BJP voters names “deliberately, in a systematic manner” during the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll.
Describing Modi as the “most dangerous person for the country,” he claimed that “the victory of the Communists lies in Modi’s defeat” even if it meant Congress is in power.
While Communists took up struggles to address food, housing and other people’s issues during the last several decades, Congress found solutions to them by making legislations, he said.
He cited examples, including the MSP Act, NREGA, Food Security Act and the ‘Indiramma’ housing scheme in Telangana.
“It is a historical necessity that the Congress and Communist brothers, secular forces unite to fight against Modi,” he said.
When the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi fought against the three black farm laws from the streets to the parliament, it had the cooperation of Communists, he said.
The BJP earlier used the ED, CBI and other central agencies to win elections, but “PM Modi discovered a new method — to use the SIR of the Election Commission to remove anti-BJP voter names,” he alleged.
Claiming that the poorest of the poor, SC and ST votes are anti-BJP, he said that a conspiracy to remove one crore voter names is underway in Telangana.
In his Assembly constituency of Kodangal, about 81,000 voters names have been put in the category of anomalies, he said.
Reddy further alleged that the Modi government is weakening the election system, right from the level of Chief Election Commission for political benefit. This calls for alertness by Congress and other parties, he said.
The BJP won Bihar and West Bengal elections in the same way, he claimed.
The BJP analysed booth-wise voting patterns in the 2014, 2019 and 2024 elections and anti-BJP voters names are being removed systematically, he alleged.
Attacking BRS, he alleged that the main opposition party in the state is not talking about the removal of voter names though it spoke vociferously about it initially. Communists need to understand this “clandestine understanding”, he said.
Observing that Communists need to guard against deletion of eligible voter names, Reddy said the outcome of 2029 Lok Sabha elections would be decided in 2026 based on the deletion of voters names.
He asked the Communist activists to work to ensure that no eligible voter names are removed during SIR.
CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat and other party leaders attended the event.
Following the publication of draft electoral roll on August 17 as part of SIR, the phase of issuing notices and disposal of Claims and Objections is currently underway in Telangana from August 17 to October 15.
The final roll will be published on October 19.
On August 17, election officials stated that about 92 lakh voters would be issued notices regarding anomalies or failure to link with the 2002 rolls during the ongoing SIR.
They said notices would be issued to 60 lakh people in the ‘anomalies’ category and another 32 lakh in the ‘unmapped’ category, comprising those who could not establish a link with the 2002 electoral rolls.
Those who receive notices can submit the necessary documents, as specified on the reverse of the Enumeration Form, during the hearing.
Election officials had said an Electoral Registration Officer should not delete any name from the draft electoral roll without issuing a notice, conducting an inquiry and giving the person concerned a fair and reasonable opportunity to be heard.
