Hyderabad: Sr citizens feel let down

Hyderabad: Mr V. Sivaswamy is an 86-year old voter and has been exercising his franchise since the age of 21. His name was missing in the voters’ list in the Assembly elections, and the deletion repeated this Thursday.

“I submitted all my details online for the inclusion of my name in the voters’ list, the receipt of which was acknowledged over the phone by the local EC office. However, the EC maintained consistency by omitting my name from the list once again,” Mr Sivaswamy said. “The funny part is that an old gentleman from our apartment, who died a few years ago, had the privilege of being included in the list. Perhaps even I will receive the privilege posthumously in the 2024 elections,” he said.

A score of senior citizens who travelled all the way to the polling booths in the scorching heat had to return disappointed. In Kapra alone, more than 200 elderly people were deprived of their right to vote.

Mr Sunil Srivastava, a Deccan Chronicle reader said, Ms Indrani Mannar is 71-years-old and is a voter for Malakjgiri Assembly constituency. Her  name is missing in the printed voter list at the polling booth at St Andrew’s school, West Marredpally  even though it is there on the portal.”

Ms Sudha Turaga, the wife of a senior retired Army officer, wrote to this newspaper: “With great displeasure, I would like to express the agony that we underwent to cast our vote. My husband Lt. Gen T. Ravindranath is a senior retired Army officer.

Although he could exercise his franchise the last time, his name was not to be traced anywhere neither in the previous Kapra municipality 35, 36, 37 polling stations nor in our own area of AFOCHS this year. It is a mockery of a registered senior person who couldn’t cast his vote today.”

In Kapra, over 20 senior citizens stepped out to vote when the maximum temperature registered was 40.2 degrees, and all of them returned home disappointed. “Today was a very depressing day for most of the senior citizen residents of Arul Colony, Kapra, who went to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Unfortunately, despite producing their voter ID cards along with their Aadhaar cards, they were not allowed to vote as their names did not reflect in the list at all,” said Mr Charles Allenby.

A senior citizen said, “Officers seated in their booths were apathetic towards us and we were asked to check in five to six booths.

However, the heat was getting unbearable and we could not find our names on the list. We had no choice but to go back home, dejected.”