BENGALURU: A delegation of ministers and legislators from Bengaluru led by Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Urban Development Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday met State Election Commissioner GS Sangreshi and submitted a memorandum seeking corrections in the voters’ list for areas under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
Addressing reporters after meeting Sangreshi, Shivakumar said the State Election Commission has begun the rectification process based on the existing voters’ data. But there are several issues here. In some cases, voters from the same house have been given different booths due to improper mapping.
He said booth level agents (BLAs) of political parties must accompany officials while mapping voters so that errors can be rectified easily.
Shivakumar alleged that in some areas dominated by minority communities, voters’ names have been removed or shifted. In some places, names of the same voters appear in two or more booths. Documents related to these lapses have been submitted to the commission.
He said booth level officers responsible for such lapses should be suspended. As Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is on, one has to be extra cautious. Earlier, forms were misused to delete or include new voters without their knowledge. Such errors must be corrected as elections to GBA, and zilla and taluk panchayats are fast approaching. “If the errors are not rectified at the earliest, it would damage the reputation of the government as well as the commission,” he said.
On whether the commission will conduct a separate revision while SIR is on, Shivakumar said the commission has the authority to do so.