Sitting on a school bench within S.J.M. School at H.B.R. Layout ward, Aqeel Ahmed Kasauri (62) and his wife Shanababegan (47) say they will not leave until they are allowed to vote.
Though their name features in the lists with the agents outside, the couple were shocked to find a deleted mark against their names in the list with the officials inside. “This is the first time I am being denied a vote. I have not shifted my house. Does the government think I’m dead already?” he says. Police attempt to convince him to leave, but he sticks around, threatening to file a complaint. Eventually, after repeated calls to political representatives yielded no result, he leaves. Ten names have been marked as deleted in the same booth.
Nearby, Srinivas Jayaram Das (42), who stays opposite another polling booth, says only his name has been deleted from his family.
The story repeats throughout the city, with numerous citizens returning from booths without ink on their thumbs. IT engineer, Abhishek. R, from Attiguppe, who brought along his passport as extra verification, was denied voting rights after his name was deleted.
Apart from names missing, many voters had to go from one booth to another in the hope that their names will be on the list. At K.R. Puram, Rathnamma – who had been asked to leave yet another booth – threatened to leave without voting as she had left work to vote. Eventually, a policeman helped her find the right booth and even allowed her to break the queue.
The story repeats throughout the city, with numerous citizens returning from booths without ink on their thumbs. A majority of the residents at KHB Housing Colony at Chowdeshwari Nagar (Yelahanka constituency) found their names deleted. Resident Gouse Ahmed said 250 names out of 300 persons in the colony could not vote. At Rajiv Gandhi Ashraya Colony, Bellandur, resident protested after nearly 200 names were missing in the list.
