By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
DEHRADUN, 24 Jan: Serious questions have arisen in respect of the just-concluded polling for the municipal bodies in Uttarakhand as there are a large number of complaints regarding missing names in the voters list as well as regarding mismanagement of the election. Unlike the Parliamentary and the State Assembly polls which are conducted under direct supervision of the Election Commission, the municipal elections are conducted under the direct monitoring and supervision of the State Election Commission. Not only this, the State Election Commission prepares its own electoral rolls and does not use the voters’ lists of Election Commission of India despite the fact that the district election machinery remains same in all the elections. . In the state, the voter lists of the bodies and the Assembly-Lok Sabha are different. The Election Commission of India prepares the list of the Assembly, Lok Sabha, which is updated throughout the year. On the contrary, the State Election Commission prepares the voter list of Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils ities, Nagar Panchayats, which is prepared afresh every five years. These lists are prepared Ward-wise.
Sources admitted that this often results in missing names. While the complaints regarding missing names is not new in respect of the municipal elections, this time the number of such complaints has surged in an unprecedented manner, which clearly shows the negligence and a rather casual approach towards the exercise. One very common complaint this time received from across the state is that the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) did not visit many houses and colonies to conduct a thorough revision of the electoral rolls. As a result, thousands of names went missing and they were deprived of their right to vote due to deletion of names. Other complaints include this time of the casual approach of the security forces in allowing scuffles and ruckus in a significant number of polling stations and booths in Uttarakhand which has a long history of peaceful voting in most places except in some designated highly sensitive polling stations. At the same time Sushil Kumar, Commissioner, State Election Commission admitted that the complaint of many names not being in the voter list is in the cognisance of the State Election Commission. He claimed that in future, work will be done in this direction in a better way.
This time, the number of voters in the municipal elections has gone up by 5 lakh, but despite this, questions are being raised on so many names being left out. Among those who could not find their names in the voters lists included former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Congress spokesperson Garima Dausani. In few wards, even the candidates failed to find their names and were unable to exercise their franchise In the last election, there were about 25 lakh voters in 84 bodies. This time, in the new list, there are more than 30 lakh voters in 100 bodies. This list will not be updated now. A new list will be prepared afresh after five years.
