Missing names on voters’ lists disappoints citizens

Despite having voter ID-cards, a large number of voters could not exercise their franchise as their names were missing from the voters’ list available with officials at their respective booths.

Despite having voter ID-cards, a large number of voters could not exercise their franchise as their names were missing from the voters’ list available with officials at their respective booths.

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“We voted in the last elections but this time, officials told us our names were not in the electoral list,” said Dr Vijay Prakash, who went to cast his vote along with his wife Nalini Saxena, at the Motilal Nehru School polling station. “We tried to convince them but they didn’t pay heed to us,” he adds, showing his voter ID-card with the number UP/20/101/588849.

Dr Prakash is not the only one. Several people cross the city, including Usha Rawat of Vikas Nagar, Vinod Kumar of Rashmi Khand, AK Kidwai of Vivekananda Ward in Mahanagar and Tandra and AK Roy of South City, Sarojininagar, complained that despite having a voter ID, they were not allowed to vote. “A change in the booth or even the constituency should be conveyed to the voters, as it does not legitimise denying the voters’ rights,” said Atish Agrawal, who helped many of his neighbours find their booths through the election commission website.