Interview: Ahead of SIR, Syed Khalid Saifullah explains Congress plan to prevent voter deletions in Hyderabad’s Old City

Hyderabad: To ensure that no ‘genuine voter’ gets deleted from the electoral rolls with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) set to start from February in Telangana, the president of Hyderabad District Congress Committee, Syed Khalid Saifullah, detailed the strategy for the protection of voter rights in the Old City.

Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), visited the city in December last year and held meetings with the election staff, setting the ball rolling for SIR.

Subsequently, the Congress party started the initiative, especially in the Old City, to ensure that genuine voters’ rights are safeguarded, said Syed Khalid Saifullah, in an interview with NewsMeter.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

NewsMeter: What is the strategy of Congress in Telangana before the implementation of SIR?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: I represent the Old City area in Hyderabad, and the work assigned by the Congress party is to form committees and make them aware of the process of SIR. For this, we are appointing local people to educate them and ensure that the rights of genuine voters are intact. There are 44 wards under me, representing Chandrayangutta, Bahadurpura, Charminar, Malakpet and Yakhutpura.

NM: What will be the role of the committee and its members?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: The committee will constitute people of the area whose job is to protect the rights of the voter. The committee will not only educate the residents but also play a major role in filling and submitting these enrolment forms to the election commission. The committee members will be properly trained. The motto is to ensure that not a single ‘genuine voter’ is removed from the list. This is the goal of the Congress party.

NM: Indian National Congress raised a hue and cry about SIR in Bihar but the deleted voters were not added to the list. What is the plan for Telangana?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: I was closely involved with the SIR process in Bihar. There are lessons learnt from that. Hence, we are now going to focus on the booth-level agent enrolment. The names of the voters in the electoral data will be checked and verified by the booth-level agents. We are going to work with them closely and ensure that the name of every genuine voter is on the list.

In Bihar, when the names were deleted and genuine voters were identified, we sent complaints to the officers at the district level. However, these were submitted in bulk. The Election Commission of India (ECI) wanted individual complaints, for which there was not enough time. That is a big lesson that we have learnt; bulk complaints will not work.

NM: It has been alleged that the area of the Old City you represent is known to have fake voters. What do you have to say about that?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: The Congress party is working for the rights of the genuine voters and to protect their right to vote. We are here to ensure that everyone who is a resident of Old City has his or her voter identity intact. This is our main concern. For that, our plan is to ensure that all genuine voters are enrolled in the voter list. This is where the role of the local committees comes in. As with every booth-level officer (BLO) of the Election Commission of India, there will be a booth-level agent (BLA) of the Congress party.

The work of the BLA is to support the voters with documentation and ensure it is properly done. As you just mentioned, the common perception is that there are fake or duplicate voters in Old City, but there are also genuine voters, and our job is to protect their voting rights.

NM: There is voter apathy in urban areas such as gated communities. People are not interested in voting. How will you tackle this segment of voters?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: For that reason, we have opted for local people to join our committee. There will be a friend, a relative or an associate of the locals in the committee, and that will give them confidence and trust. No documents will be requested from them. The job of the party is to only support them in the enrolment process. We are planning to have 33 per cent women BLAs. This will make it easier, as party BLA's are women accompanying the BLO's, women voters will be comfortable when they come home for verification.

NM: While this initiative is being taken by the Congress party, the Old City has a strong AIMIM presence. There have been constant fights between the parties in Nampally. How do you plan to resolve the tensions ahead of SIR?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: The Congress party is very clear that this exercise is for the protection of genuine voter rights. We are only ensuring that the SIR process does not lead to the deletion of genuine voter names. For that, there should be no objection from any political party. All political parties have the right to function independently and engage with the public. It is co-existence and not confrontation.

NM: In the Old City, AIMIM takes credit for every move forward, whether small or big. Do you not see a race for merit in this enrolment process?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: For the Congress party, right now, the cause is more important than credit. For us, the goal is to ensure that the constitutional right of every voter is intact. We want every voter to have his/her name enrolled in the voting list and have their right to vote. This is more important than taking credit. Our focus and work are towards that direction only.

NM: You made the missing voters app and have a tech background. How are you going to use these skills in the present task assigned to you?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: The missing voters app had details of crores of missing voters. This app helped to enroll lakhs of voters of all communities across India. Technology is going to be leveraged in the Old City, too, as we work on the ground with data. We are already using tech in our application and appointment process. My work experience as a security test engineer with Google will be useful, and we are going to ensure that not a single genuine voter is deleted from the system.

NM: It has been alleged that the Election Commission is rigid when it comes to SIR and are not willing to listen to genuine applicants. In the Old City, this fear is the highest. What is going to be done for that?

Syed Khalid Saifullah: We are going to be alert, cautious and quick. There will be a strong team working at the very base level and our mass connect in localities will help us achieve our target. If there are deletions, we are going to follow the process immediately and not waste time. For this reason, we have started the work from now, so that not only the party workers but also the voters are educated and aware. It is important for voters to be alert and we will be there for them to protect their constitutional right. To protect genuine voters we are reaching out to volunteers and asking them to register at https://join.hyderabadcongress.in/leaders this will help all of us proect our right to vote.