‘Did they think I passed away?’

Problem of missing names in voters’ list surfaces again

Bishop Aloysius Paul D'Souza casting his vote at the Ganapathy High School in Mangalore on Sunday. Photo: H.S. Manjunath

Errors persisted in the Legislative Assembly election voter lists on Sunday causing disappointment to citizens, some of whom had to head back without casting their votes. In some cases, 20 to 30 names had disappeared from the lists.

Joel Suvaris of Nityadhar in Babbukatte in Mangalore constituency, found that his name was not in the list. “I voted in the ULB elections two months ago. Now, they have deleted my name. I have no idea what I did wrong,” he said. In the same polling booth, Philomena (52) was shocked to find out that her name was deleted in the list. “Did they think I had passed away,” she asked defiantly. Party workers said that about the names of 30 persons who had shown up were missing from the lists.

However, in Kulashekhar, the name of Seena K., who had passed away two years ago, was still present in the voters’ list.

Even after having filed application for inclusion in the first week of April, Chitralekha, a homemaker from Yekkur, was excluded, while her husband was included. Similarly, in Sajipanadu, Mangalore constituency, Samir is befuddled that while he was allowed to vote, his wife, Ayesha, was denied. “When the teacher had come to give the slip, she was outside the house. We contacted them many times after this, but the slip was not handed over,” said Mr. Samir, adding: “Whose fault is this?”

In Capitanio School, a teacher manning the booth there said a person, who had relocated to Bangalore, was turned away after his name did not appear in the list. “Even though he had applied to retain his name in Kankanady B. village, his application did not go through. He had come here from Bangalore only to vote,” she said.

Other common problems that caused delay and confusion were errors in the names, addresses, age and sometimes even sex printed in the voters’ list; an error in the publication of photographs, or repeated entry of the same name in different numbers in the list; and, in some cases, one family member is printed in a separate page, leading to the belief that his or her entry had been deleted. However, officials said in these cases, as long as the name or photo was printed correctly, the person was allowed to vote.

K. Dayanand, Additional Deputy Commissioner, said many had not updated their names and details since the ULB elections.