Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India stated in an August 11, 2026 clarification that the Family Register Certificate created by the Telangana government under GO Ms. No. 172 on July 25, 2026 cannot serve as an approved document for the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The statement also questioned the actions of AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, who had encouraged the state government and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to create the certificate and publicly described it on July 27, 2026 as one of twelve valid documents for the revision. By promoting the certificate and advising Hyderabad voters to obtain it, Owaisi appears to have given incorrect information to both voters and the Congress-led government. The commission explained that the new certificate differs from the earlier Family Member Certificate issued under the 2013 system, which involved verification by a tahsildar. The updated version is produced through MeeSeva using data from the Food Security Card database without separate checks. Since ration cards are not among the approved documents for the revision and the Supreme Court has noted they do not prove citizenship, the commission ruled the new certificate equivalent to a ration card and therefore invalid for the process. Certificates issued before July 25, 2026 under the previous rules remain acceptable. The Telangana government had previously stated that the new certificate has no connection to the ongoing revision. The Telangana BJP had objected to the certificate shortly after its introduction and asked the commission on July 28, 2026 to exclude it from the revision.
