Former Congress MP G.V. Harsha Kumar Petitions Andhra Pradesh Governor Over Mass Voter Disenfranchisement in SIR-2026

HYDERABAD, India - Oct. 1, 2026 - PRLog -- VIJAYAWADA — Former Member of Parliament from Amalapuram, G.V. Harsha Kumar, has submitted a formal representation under Articles 167 and 160 of the Constitution to the Hon'ble Governor of Andhra Pradesh, raising urgent concerns over a brewing constitutional crisis driven by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR-2026) of electoral rolls. While acknowledging the fundamental necessity of accurate voter lists, Harsha Kumar stated that the field implementation across Andhra Pradesh has degenerated into a targeted profiling campaign designed to purge eligible citizens from the rolls, disproportionately disenfranchising vulnerable, marginalized, and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities.

The representation critiques both the administrative failures on the ground and the limits of recent judicial endorsements. Addressing the Supreme Court's May 2026 judgment upholding the administrative legitimacy of SIR-2026, Harsha Kumar emphasized that blanket judicial validation assumes administrative neutrality, creating a blind spot that overlooks the systemic subversion of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) by ruling-party machinery. He stressed that under the Basic Structure Doctrine reaffirmed in Kesavananda Bharati and Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain, democratic legitimacy relies on free and fair elections, and unchecked voter deletions directly infringe upon adult suffrage guaranteed under Article 326 of the Constitution.

The petition details extensive procedural illegalities, including severe violations of natural justice (audi alteram partem). Deletions under labels such as "permanently shifted," "deceased," or "duplicate" are being finalized without serving individual, verifiable notices or providing electors an opportunity to be heard, in direct contravention of Article 14. Harsha Kumar highlighted that ground-level databases are being algorithmically cross-referenced with welfare delivery records to profile neighborhoods along political lines, driving asymmetrical deletions in competitive constituencies. Furthermore, seasonal migrant workers and daily-wage laborers from marginalized backgrounds are routinely misclassified as "permanently shifted" after missing a single, unannounced field visit, unfairly shifting the burden of legal proof onto poor citizens who must navigate bureaucratic remedies.

Invoking the Governor's constitutional oath under Article 159 to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, Harsha Kumar urged immediate executive intervention before upcoming elections are fundamentally compromised. He requested the Governor to exercise powers under Article 167(c) to demand an independent status report from the Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer regarding the demographic distribution of executed deletions, deploy central civil service officers as non-state observers to monitor enumeration, and direct a temporary pause on all finalized deletions until every affected citizen receives a formal notice accompanied by a mandatory 30-day window for redressal. State Congress Leader GV Sri Raj is also present in this meeting