Hyderabad-based activist SQ Masood has approached the Telangana High Court, challenging the role of the ERONET software in flagging voters for notices as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana.
According to The South First, the petitioner alleges that laws and rules are being changed continuously, whimsically, and with impulse with the help of software, as seen in the case of Form-6 modification.
Masood's petition claims that the software, and not electoral officers, is deciding which voters receive notices. He states that this is an automated process that flags voters without human oversight.
Masood and his brother Syed Waheed Uddin filed the writ petition on Tuesday, September 29. The Election Commission of India (ECI), the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Telangana, and the GHMC Commissioner, who is Hyderabad’s District Election Officer, have been named as respondents.
The petitioners sought directions declaring illegal the automated process that flagged voters for minor discrepancies without human oversight and without publicising the software’s functioning.
This petition raises significant questions about the transparency and reliability of the voter revision process in Telangana, which is crucial for all voters in the state.
