HYDERABAD: Though the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation offered full support to the Election commission in weeding out bogus voters, it has made little headway in the Aadhaar seeding process conducted in about 15 polling stations covering Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts.
The Election Commission launched a nationwide drive in April 2015, to link Aadhaar data with Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) in an attempt to weed out fake voters from the existing electoral rolls.
As per the directions from the Election Commission, Aadhaar seeding review meeting should be conducted at 10.30 am on July 25 at GHMC Head Office to review the progress made in the project.
However, out of an existing 73,69,000 voters in GHMC limits, Aadhaar seeding has been completed only for 25,79,000 voters (36 per cent).
As many as 7,051 existing booth level officers have completed door-to-door visits across Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, and it was found that in 16 per cent of the cases, the residents were not at home.
A significant 28 per cent of the voters have had a change of residence, while 16.67 per cent of them do not have Aadhaar cards. Nearly 75,000 of them have died, GHMC officials informed.
Facing heat from the Election Commission, GHMC Special Officer Somesh Kumar finally cracked the whip, and directed all deputy commissioners to review the situation and said that the Aadhaar seeding process must be completed by the end of the month.
“For those who have not taken Aadhaar cards till now, the GHMC is making elaborate arrangements to ensure all electors are in possession of the Aadhaar cards. Apart from the existing counters, the GHMC will also make separate arrangements for issuing Aadhaar cards in all 18 circles,” added Somesh Kumar.
The special officer also directed the authorities to instruct booth level officers to visit the locked houses at least three times. He also instructed the booth level officers to work on holidays to meet the deadline.
“With regard to change of residential address, notices have been issued to the people who are staying in those houses. The Aadhaar seeding process should be taken up with existing booth level officers along with sanitary field assistants, bill collectors and other employees in GHMC,” Somesh informed.