Many Gurgaon residents, who came to vote in Thursday's Haryana Assembly elections, were a disappointed lot as they found their names missing from the electoral rolls, though they possessed valid voter identity cards.
The residents of Khadipur village in Gurgaon assembly consituency complained that their names did not figure on the electoral rolls, even though they had voted in the previous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
"Most of us who came to the polling booths here were turned back by election officials, who said that our names did not figure on the electoral rolls. Even after we produced our Voters ID, they did not allow us to vote," says Narendra Bharadwaj, a Panchayat member of Khadipur village in Gurgaon.
More than 20 people at Government High School polling station in Khadipur alone could not cast their votes, as officials insisted their names were missing from electoral rolls.
"We have voted in the last elections and our names were very much there on the rolls. However, we cannot understand how our names are missing now," he says.
However, officials expressed helplessness, saying there were strict orders not to allow any person, who did not have his/her name in the electoral rolls, to vote.
{{/usCountry}}However, officials expressed helplessness, saying there were strict orders not to allow any person, who did not have his/her name in the electoral rolls, to vote.
{{/usCountry}}"We have been deputed at polling stations with the strict order that whoever does not have his/her name should not be allowed to vote," said Kamlesh Sharma, the Presiding Officer at the polling station.
Many of the voters who were turned away, protested in front of polling booths, but left soon alleging a "conspiracy behind the mass disappearance of their names".