Hyderabad: Name deletion irks many, Election Commission says nothing major

Hyderabad: Scores of voters from across the state complained that their names were missing from the electoral list without any prior information from the office of the State Election Commission. Many of these voters said they had voted in the Assembly elections in December last year.

In response to the complaints, the State Election Commission, which had apologised in December last year after 30 lakh names went missing from the voters’ list, merely said, “No major complaints were received on missing votes.”

The names of three members of a family — Ms Rafath Sultana, Mr Shafaqat Hussain, and Ms Khatija Sultana — under the Madina Islamic Mission High School polling booth were found deleted.

“My name and the names of my parents, siblings, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, cousins, and a few friends have been deleted. All of us had voted in the Assembly elections. This is disappointing,” Ms Humera Firdouse said.

Similarly, six members — Mohammed Salee, Zubeda Banu, Abdul Razzak, Zaitunnisa, Mohammed Suleman, Syeda Ahraf  Begum, Syed Ahmedi — who come under the Chevella constituency found that there names were deleted.

Mr S. Lakshmi Kanth said in a letter that he wrote to Deccan Chronicle, “I voted in the state elections. However, my name was not to be found on the voters’ list today. But my wife’s name, which was missing in the list during the December elections, was there today. In addition to that, my daughter left for the US in 2003 but her name still appears in the voters’ list. If there are two errors in listing in a small family of just three, then one can only imagine the volume of errors across the country.”

There were other issues as well, with voting beginning late. A voter, Mr Gangadhar Pasam, wrote to Deccan Chronicle: “In order to avoid the summer heat, many senior citizens gathered at the Vengalraonagar polling booth at 6.30 am. However, voters had to wait as voting commenced 45 minutes later at the Govt. Primary School, Vengalraonagar. How can the EC expect more people to vote if it lacks punctuality and discipline.”

There were more complaints in Secunderabad, Malakgiri, Hyderabad, and Chevella seats. Many voters took to social media to express their disappointment after finding that their names were deleted. “Highly disappointed to find out that my name has been deleted from the voters’ list for NO reason and that there’s not a single soul at the polling centre to help with any further information on how to proceed. There is no helpline either, in case we’d like to know what happens. Can anyone help? (sic),” said Ms Pooja Prahalad.

On being asked, an officer at the chief election office said, “We have got a few complaints on deletions. However, this cannot be considered as a large number.”

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