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Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected the Family Register Certificate (FRC) launched by the Telangana government a fortnight ago as a designated document for enumeration of voters under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in the state.

The FRC is different from the Family Member Certificate (FMC) issued by the state, said the ECI, because it was based on information that had been digitally extracted from ration card data. It was also issued after verification – documents were checked and local enquiries were made, the commission noted.

The Telangana government hurriedly issued orders to launch the FRC on July 25, just about a week before the August 3 deadline for voters to return their filled-up voter enrollment forms to Booth Level Officers in the SIR. The hurry and the new form were attributed to fears of the Congress government that lakhs of voters would end up being deleted during the enumeration and verification process.

The deadline for submission of forms was subsequently extended to August 10, which was the second extension. The period of filing claims and objections lasts from August 10 to September 9.

The BJP reacted to the development with a petition to the ECI against the FRC, saying it was introduced midway through the SIR process to protect ineligible voters. A batch of writ petitions was filed in Telangana high court challenging its validity on the ground that welfare oriented database should not dictate voter eligibility.

The SIR process began in Telangana on June 25. Initially, voters were supposed to submit their details to BLOs by July 24. But the deadline was extended to August 3 and then August 10, which was finally confirmed.

The government order issued on July 25, in the midst........

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