Discrepancies and errors abound in the final voters’ list prepared by the Election Commission. The list has been updated on the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer’s website.
Among the glaring errors are the inclusion of names of the dead in the list. While the names of many voters are missing, the names of a few others have been repeated. There are discrepancies related to age, gender and name. In some cases, only one person’s name from a family is on the list with others being omitted.
Gayathri Subbarao of M N Krishna Rao Road said: “My mother-in-law, Lakshmi Bai, passed away more than a year ago. But her name is still on the electoral list.”
Jayaram S B of Income Tax Layout in Vijayanagar is 71 years old, but his wife Sharada Jayaram’s age is given as 93 years. The age of Ambarish Bhat of Ittamadu has been updated as 43 years while he is just 36. When he asked the BBMP staff about the error, he was asked to submit another form to change his age.
Nataraj of Kyalasanahalli in K R Puram has the word ‘aaa’ in place of his father’s name. Not just this, for many voters, instead of house numbers, the list simply mentions Kyalasanahalli or zero.
Noted cardiac surgeon Dr Vivek Jawali’s name along with his wife’s and daughter’s have been repeated twice in the list with different voter identity numbers.
Vinoda of Padmanabha Nagar too has two different identity numbers, one with initials and the other without them. Also, each identity has a different age. Shilpa of Vijaynagar had her name repeated thrice, of which only one has been deleted.
Speaking to Express, K R Niranjan, Special Commissioner (Elections), said they have got instructions from the EC to allow such voters with minor errors to cast their votes. However, they have to show other prescribed IDs so that the presiding officer can verify and allow them to vote. On deceased people, Niranjan said his office will give the list to presiding officers so that they can verify it.
BBMP Commissioner and District Election Officer M Lakshminarayana admitted that there is a repetition of some voters’ names. “But at this juncture, we cannot delete the names unless the voter himself applies seeking deletion,” he said.