Asaduddin Owaisi urged the Telangana government to introduce Permanent Residence Certificates
July 7, 2026: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday called on the Telangana government to issue Permanent Residence Certificates by framing clear eligibility criteria to ensure genuine voters are not excluded during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Addressing a public gathering, Owaisi alleged that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had not given him time for a meeting, though he said he had discussed the issue with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
Owaisi pointed to Karnataka’s Permanent Residence Certificate system as a model and suggested that Telangana adopt a similar mechanism. He proposed that certificates be issued based on documents such as electoral records of parents or grandparents, Aadhaar, Public Distribution System (PDS) ration cards and school records. He claimed that many people approaching AIMIM lacked the required documents for voter verification and warned that genuine voters should not lose their voting rights due to documentation issues.
The AIMIM chief said that while duplicate and ineligible entries should be removed from electoral rolls, legitimate voters must not be excluded. He urged the Congress government to act before the final electoral rolls are published instead of raising concerns later. Owaisi also reiterated his demand that the Election Commission accept PAN cards, driving licences and PDS ration cards as valid identity proofs during the SIR process. He further expressed concern over the Centre’s High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes, saying he feared it could pave the way for a National Register of Citizens (NRC).