Kishan Reddy Challenges Congress Over Voter List Controversy

Union Minister and BJP leader G. Kishan Reddy has hit back at the Congress over its criticism of the voter-list revision exercise, questioning why the party was not explaining the details behind its claim that 13 crore voters had been removed. Citing Election Commission data, he said 2.80 crore entries had been categorised as deceased voters and 6.30 crore as people who had permanently shifted. Another 3.01 crore were classified as absent or untraceable, while 1.02 crore were identified as duplicate entries. The Election Commission has clarified that these are draft-stage classifications and that eligible voters can raise claims and objections if their names have been wrongly excluded.

Kishan Reddy challenged the Congress to trace the voters listed as permanently shifted and submit evidence if it had concerns. He questioned whether the party wanted the names of deceased and duplicate voters to remain on electoral rolls. He also alleged that voter lists in the Old City and Maheshwaram constituencies included names of people who had illegally migrated from other countries. Separately, Union Minister Bandi Sanjay claimed that the name of former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao continued to appear on the voter list despite his death. He also accused the Congress of spreading misinformation about EVMs whenever it faced electoral defeat. The remarks have added to the political confrontation between the BJP and the Congress over the voter-list revision process.