Give ID proof to redraft flawed Hebbal voters' list, says EC

A few politicians are hand-in-glove with the agency that prepared the draft list

The Election Commission, following a memorandum submitted to it by JD(S) leader Abdul Azeem, has stated that the draft electoral roll of Hebbal constituency will be revised on furnishing valid identity and address proof.

In December 2012, a memorandum was submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and he was urged to look into mistakes/errors in the constituency’s voters’ list. Azeem  sought the Election Commission’s intervention to rectify the errors.
He had alleged that a few powerful politicians aspiring to contest the Assembly polls are hand-in-glove with the agency that prepared the draft list.

In his complaint, Azeem stated: “In Hebbal Assembly constituency alone, 45,000 names were deleted, compared to the draft voters’ list of 2008.”

When contacted by Deccan Herald, Special Officer (Elections) of BBMP, Dr R Vishal said an investigation was taken up and a detailed report was sent to the CEO for his perusal.

“The electoral list did have certain anomalies on account of deaths, voters moving out of the constituency and other such factors,” he said.

Workers of various political parties have highlighted how names of as many as 120 families in Ganganagar were deleted from the draft list at once. Moreover, all the families belonged to minority communities.

Sources indicate that in this particular area, Revenue Inspectors had not updated changes. In certain instances, the change in the name of Gangekondanahalli to Ganganagar was never effected, thus leaving a majority of the people out of the electoral list.

One of the major mistakes shown in the memorandum is how the name and photograph of S Vijaya, a resident, appeared nine times under different epic card numbers in the electoral list.

On the memorandum, Anil Kumar Jha, Chief Electoral Officer, said: “We have already reviewed the complaint by JD(S) leader Abdul Azeem. The recent deletion list has been handed over to the complainant. If he finds any mistakes in the list, the same can be brought to our notice. We are open to additions to the voters’ list, if only documents furnished are authentic.”