BANGALORE: Elections to the post of president of the Kannada Sahithya Parishat (KSP) - which is inching toward its centenary - is scheduled for April 29 with 10 candidates in the fray.
The president, apart from heading the Parishat, would also head the body during its centenary celebrations.
However, even 97 years after its inception the Parishat has not revised its voters list.
Assistant Commissioner and Returning Officer of KSP S T Mohan Raju told Express: “Had the voters list been revised, the total number of voters may decrease by 2-3 per cent.
We have issued repeated reminders to the KSP to revise the list.” Members of the KSP are eligible to cast their votes only after completing three years of membership.
At present, the KSP has an electorate of 1,08,028, 90,897 men and 17,131 women.
Despite repeated alerts to the Parishat by its election officers, the KSP and its office bearers have not made any attempt to revise the list.
He added that this had resulted in deceased persons such as former Bangalore mayor and former KSP president G Narayana and MLA K M Krishnamurthy remaining on the Parishat’s electoral rolls.
The tahsildar concerned has to confirm the death of such member by issuing a certificate, following which the names will be deleted.
Mohan added that details such as the change in addresses of the members have failed to reflect in the list.
“Also, certain members possess multiple membership,” he elucidated.
He added that the candidates, at a recent meeting with KSP election officers, agreed for a revision of the list.
One polling booth will be set up for every 100 voters.
This year, 192 polling booths will be opened at all taluk centres.
The polling officer received requests to open 20 polling booths at the Hobli level but it was dismissed due to lack of credible data on electorate.
Voters at the hobli level, therefore, have now travel to the nearest taluk poll booth to exercise their franchise.
Electorate of taluks having less than 100 voters will have to vote at the nearest taluk polling centre.