Karnataka High Court directs ECI to rectify discrepancies in voters’ list

BENGALURU:  The Karnataka High Court has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to complete the exercise of rectifying discrepancies in the electoral rolls of the Shivajinagar and Shanthinagar assembly constituencies at the earliest.

Justice M Nagaprasanna issued this directive recently after hearing petitions filed by M G Pradeep, booth-level agent of BJP, and M Srinivas, general secretary of BJP, Bengaluru Central Division. 

In the Shivajinagar segment, the ECI found 8,281 voters shifted and 1,847 voters dead. Similarly, it found 2,773 voters either shifted or dead in Shanthinagar. The counsel of petitioners said that block-level agents had identified 26,000 voters either dead or have shifted from Shivajinagar and 8,807 voters either dead or have shifted from Shanthinagar.

The ECI has not launched any exercise to identify such voters despite submitting representations to it. Objecting to this, the counsel for ECI said the commission has prepared a list of 11,000 such voters in Shivajinagar and issued notices. It was found that of the 11,000 voters, 9,195 had shifted and the rest died. Of the 9,195 voters, 914 had replied and submitted their residential documents.

After hearing them, the names of 914 voters were not deleted from the Shivajinagar list. As far as 8,281 voters are concerned, the ECI is yet to complete its exercise. Of the 8,807 voters in Shanthinagar, 2,773 voters had either shifted or died, the counsel said.