Somaiya says action should be taken against erring election officers
Somaiya says that approximately 20 per cent of the voters from Mumbai were not able to vote because their names were not on the voters list.
Conducting an election without a proper voters list is a criminal offence. The officials who prepared the incomplete voters list should be punished. The incomplete list deprived many citizens of their voting rights. We are demanding an inquiry, says Somaiya.
The BJP leader and the former MP is now engaged in preparing a list of 100 serious mistakes committed by the election officials while preparing the voters list.
After the results, I have engaged myself in this work. Its a serious offence. Large numbers of people were not able to vote. I am collecting evidence from all the constituencies in the city, he says.
Somaiya says he realised the seriousness of the matter, when the party workers were not able to identify voters when they went to distribute the slips.
My demand is that the Election Commission should rectify the mistake before the coming assembly elections. Also punitive action should be taken against the officials who prepared such a horrible voters list, he demands.
`Method of compiling list is outdated
Somaiya says one of the key reasons for so many discrepancies in the voters list is the compilation method.
Demanding reforms in the way the list is prepared, Somaiya says, We are still using the method introduced by the British in 1925. We should move with the times.
The Congress camp also says that correction of the voters list before the assembly elections in Oct this year is necessary. On election day, we also came across many such cases of inconsistencies in the voting list.
A lot of residents did not find their names at any of the polling centres, says Sunil Gangwani, joint secretary of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee.
However, he says Somaiya is exaggerating the figures of missing voters. Somaiya says the names of over 15 per cent of Mumbais population could not vote because their names were missing. We would say this figure is around five per cent, says Gangwani.
Definitely, the officers who made the voters list made unpardonable mistakes, he says, adding that an inquiry would be a good idea.
babu@mid-day.com
List not prepared by permanent staff
The voters list is not prepared by permanent staff. Whenever the list is to be prepared, government officers are hired from different departments. There should be a permanent department working on the voters list to avoid such discrepancies, says an official who worked with Mulund election office.
Errors in voters list (as told by Somaiya)
Around 300 voters from Indraprastha Tower, Mulund (W), were not able to vote. Later, the residents realised that their names were registered at the booth in Indira Nagar slum.
Names of around 50 voters from Apurva and Akash buildings in Mulund (W) were part of Sainath Wadi.
The voters list for Neelam Nagar booth 41 had around 200 names registered as residents of Kavita Kiran building.
