Voter registration procedures for Graduates' Constituencies have become a point of uncertainty for young degree-holders based in Hyderabad and other urban centres, prompting the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee's Election Commission Coordination Committee to approach the state's Chief Electoral Officer for clearer guidance on the matter.
A formal representation was delivered to the Chief Electoral Officer by the committee, with Pulipati Rajesh Kumar serving as its chairman, alongside SSA chairman Gampa Venu and Gopishetty Raghavender, who holds a position on the TPCC Election Commission Coordination Committee.
Over the years, Hyderabad has developed as a destination for graduates from across Telangana's districts and neighbouring states, drawn by its expanding base of technology firms, manufacturing operations, and corporate offices. A number of people residing and working in the city while their voter registration remains tied to a hometown address have expressed uncertainty over whether they qualify for Graduates' Constituencies and, if so, how to proceed with enrolment.
Three points were put to the authorities for clarification: how Elector Photo Identity Card details factor into Form 18 applications, what governs the assignment of a candidate to a particular Graduates' Constituency, and under what circumstances a temporary place of residence may be treated as ordinary residence.
Invoking Section 19 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the panel sought clarification on whether workers housed in rented properties could use tenancy agreements, residence certificates drawn up by their employers' human resources departments, and local utility bills to establish proof of where they live. Questions about which Graduates' Constituency voters who completed their degrees in other Telangana districts — or those who moved to Hyderabad from elsewhere in the country for work — should enrol in, based on where they currently live, were also put forward for clarification.
The petition further raised the question of what conditions apply to degree-holders who are registered as ordinary voters elsewhere in the country and now seek to join the electoral rolls for Telangana's Graduates' Constituencies. Procedural safeguards against duplicate registration were among the details sought, as were the exact conditions governing the lodgement of Form 18 applications.
The committee called on the Chief Electoral Officer's office to compile and release guidance on those matters, whether delivered as a formal policy document or a set of frequently asked questions. Among the points raised were the need for unambiguous guidance on how to choose a constituency, what proof-of-address documents workers in rental housing should submit, whether graduates who have moved from other states qualify, and how to navigate the Form 18 application procedure.
The panel drew attention to the tens of thousands of degree-holders concentrated across Hyderabad's technology corridors — HITEC City, Gachibowli, and Madhapur among them — who have relocated to the city in pursuit of work. The representation also raised the concern that permitting graduates to cast ballots at both their home address and their Hyderabad study address would, in practice, result in those voters holding two separate electoral registrations under the same commission's framework.
The committee contended that transparent procedures and verified data form the foundation through which younger people — among them those holding educated professional positions — can engage in the electoral process. A call was made for the Election Commission to publish unambiguous guidance that would allow qualifying graduates to cast their votes without being hampered by the registration uncertainties still in circulation.
