YSRCP raises concern over electoral irregularities, opposes SIR

YSRCP member Y.V. Subba Reddy on Thursday voiced concern in Rajya Sabha over electoral reforms and the functioning of the Election Commission of India, stressing that the future of India’s democracy depended on transparent, fair, and accountable election.

He said the electorate in Andhra Pradesh feared that their mandate was not being recorded correctly, citing the alleged irregularities in the recent Legislative and Lok Sabha elections.

Mr. Subba Reddy opposed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, calling it poorly planned with unrealistic deadlines and inadequate communication. He said the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) struggled to implement it, creating confusion and fear of deletion of genuine voters from the list. Several petitions had already been examined by the Supreme Court, he added.

He pointed to vote count discrepancies, noting that there was mismatch in the case of nearly 89,500 votes. Some constituencies recorded more Assembly votes than Parliamentary votes despite using the same register. Alleging missing votes, implausible polling figures and anomalies in Hindupur, he said the vote pattern defied logic in the constituency.

Mr. Subba Reddy alleged that candidates had been denied CCTV and strong room footage, while other States received such data. He also questioned the 12.54% increase in polling after official closure, with over 51 lakh unexplained votes added.

The YSRCP member demanded mandatory release of all polling records, strict EVM verification, full webcasting, and a national debate on paper ballots.