Medchal’s SIR math does not add up

Content type: analysis

Medchal–Malkajgiri’s SIR grind is still stuck in second gear. A district tally cited 29,79,130 electors and 18,42,553 records digitised as of August 2 — 61.85%, with eight days to go. Officials and party leaders quoted in the report estimate digitisation may reach “about 70%”. Then comes the jump cut: “more than 10 lakh votes may decline.” The arithmetic in the same piece says otherwise. If digitisation hits 70%, the unresolved gap is about 8.94 lakh, not “10 lakh-plus.” The 10 lakh number matches the entire undigitised balance at 61.85%, not the report’s own projected endpoint. According to the report, the supposed fall is blamed on people not returning forms and migrants preferring to keep rolls in native places — which is a hypothesis, not a deletion order.

Independent reports through July track the same problem — slow distribution, slower data entry, shifting definitions — but none document a million-plus deletions. One July 5 dispatch had Medchal–Malkajgiri at 29,79,130 electors with 61.57% forms distributed. Another on July 6 put statewide digitisation at 0.72%, and a July 13 piece cited 6.07% digitised while officials claimed 99%-plus form distribution. The methodology behind these stages is not explained in public; the CEO’s site lists the authority, not an August 2 district dashboard.

Two things can be true: the SIR exercise is lagging where it matters, and headline-grabbing “cuts” need a roll, a name list, or at least Form 7 counts to back them. Until then, treat Medchal–Malkajgiri’s gap for what it is — a big, unresolved workload with eight days left — not a confirmed purge. The BJP-led Centre loves a headline about “cleaning rolls”; Telangana needs the data and due process first.