More than 200 people gathered near Ambedkar college in Pulkeshinagar, Bengaluru protesting against the missing names in the voting list of Lok Sabha Elections 2019 as the city went into polling on April 18.
Interestingly, there are many voters in this group who have been voting for years and decades regularly but unfortunately are not able to cast their vote as their name does not feature in the voting list of this year.
Missing Names Irk Voters In Bengaluru
Voting in general elections is the birthright of every adult Indian citizen. However, as the voters turned out in the IT hub of India, many of them found out that their names were missing from the voting list much to their disappointment.
Hassain Saab and his family members were really irked after their names were changed in the voter roll. Hassain Saab is a visually challenged voter who has been voting from Ward 53, Chikkabasavantpura constituency in K R Puram.
The son of Hassain Saab said, “We were shocked to find different names against our voter IDs. We have never faced such problems in the past.” Unfortunately, Hassain Saab or his family is not the only people to face such a situation. There are many who were shocked to find their names deleted or changed from the list.
Another voter Rifat also found is name deleted. He said, “I had voted in this same booth last year. But this year I found my name deleted from the list when I came to vote. Despite no change in my address, my name has been deleted. This is the case with many other voters from this constituency.“
He further added, “When we ask the polling officers they ask us to enquire BBMP officials who in turn say that nothing can be done now and we will have to reapply after the.elections are over. Who is responsible for citizens being unable to vote?”
It means that neither the polling officers nor the BBMP officials have any solution to this problem due to which these Indian citizens will be stopped from casting their votes despite fulfilling all the eligibility criteria.
Deleted Names Upset Regular Voters
People gathering near Ambedkar College in Pulkeshinagar shouted slogans against the election commission and the government as they are unable to vote. A 52-year-old regular voter Nazir Ahmed said, “I was able to choose my MLA but I have been denied an opportunity to choose my MP because my name is not in the list.”
According to Nazir, he has voted 24 times at Mariam school voting booth but this time could not do so as his name is not in the list of voters. When a similar error occurred 10 years ago, he had even got his card corrected.
Nagma Begum had to face an entirely different problem. Even though her details are quite visible on the website of the election commission, her name is not in the voters’ list at the polling booth. There are many more who are facing this problem in Bengaluru’s Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
According to reports, at least 80 names were found to be missing and 40 deleted in each booth.
