Home Affairs Minister rules out voting rights for illegal migrants, warns of NRC if roll revision blocked

Home Affairs Minister of State Sanjay Kumar Bandi said illegal migrants will not be given the right to vote. He made the comment at a public gathering in Nirmal on Tuesday, warning that continued opposition from the Congress to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls could trigger the rollout of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) to identify and deport undocumented foreigners. The BJP had earlier staged a Maha Padayatra in the same town under its “Save Democracy – Remove Anarchy” drive, aiming to rebut the Congress’s claim of “vote theft”. The march featured party state in‑charge Sunil Bansal, state president N. Ramchander Rao, Nirmal MLA A. Maheshwar Reddy and MPs Godem Nagesh and Etala Rajender, among others. In his speech, Bandi blamed Congress leaders for spreading misinformation about the SIR in New Delhi while ignoring farmer distress, youth unemployment and pensioner concerns in Telangana. Rao echoed the charge, accusing the opposition of painting the Modi government as corrupt to destabilise it. He urged BJP volunteers to counter the alleged false narrative. Bandi also voiced confidence that the BJP will secure a majority in Telangana’s upcoming assembly poll.## Context The SIR aims to clean up voter lists before elections, a process the ruling party says is essential for fair polls. The NRC, if introduced, would be a separate nationwide register intended to separate citizens from illegal residents, a move that has sparked debate across several states.