By Our Staff Reporter
DEHRADUN, 24 Jan: Social activist Anoop Nautiyal has called for a detailed investigation and report on the irregularities and mismanagement in the municipal elections, demanding that the shortcomings be identified and rectified for the future. He stated that the reports that have come to light clearly show that the Uttarakhand State Election Commission adopted a highly irresponsible and careless attitude in conducting the elections. Given the chaotic nature of the municipal elections held on Thursday, he presented three demands to the State Election Commission.
According to Nautiyal, in many areas, voter names were found missing from the voter list, and in several places, the voting process was extremely slow. Even after 5 p.m., the scheduled end time for voting, long lines were observed at several booths. Voters took more time than necessary to cast their votes. The State Election Commission should investigate the reasons behind this overall negligence in detail, and an initial report should be issued within the next two weeks under all circumstances.
He also expressed regret over the large number of missing names from the voter list. He said that this is a violation of people’s democratic rights, which cannot be compensated. The possibility that this may have affected the election results cannot be ruled out either.
An important aspect of this issue, according to him, is that the number of voters is not just a statistic. Due to the lack of census data, the Uttarakhand urban voters numbers could have been useful for urban planning and for authorities, elected representatives, the media, and those working on urban issues. However, because a large number of voters’ names were missing from the list, this data has now become unreliable. Therefore, it is necessary that the State Election Commission investigate how many people’s names were missing from the voter list in all municipalities and release a Ward-wise and municipality-wise list of missing voters within a month.
