GUWAHATI: Though 1.2 lakh people in Assam were not able to exercise their franchise in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for being clubbed as 'D' (Doubtful) voters, there were many genuine eligible voters who were not able to vote this time and rather surprisingly, the election department of Assam is unaware of the reasons of the same.
Retired Justice PG Agarwala, talking to G Plus said, “I have been voting in the same place since many years and had also voted in 2016 assembly elections. But this time, the names of my family members did not appear in the final voters’ list.”
Agarwala votes at the Latasil Primary School and is a resident of Ambari in Gauhati Lok Sabha seat.
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He informed that when his son went to the authorities, they were clueless about the reason why their names did not appear in the final list.
On 23rd April, when the third phase of polling was underway in Guwahati, one Nageshwar Bhagat who has been voting at the Panbazar Government High School since the last 15 years informed G Plus that he and his family members’ names did not appear in the final voters’ list and they were not allowed to vote. All of them have voter cards and yet could not exercise their franchise.
G Plus called up the chief electoral officer, Mukesh Sahu who said, “We have to investigate to know the reason.” Sahu noted the names of the complainants and assured G Plus that he will come up with the actual reason soon.
On receiving a number of complaints, G Plus contacted Sahu on 26th April. Sahu said that the investigation will take some time but as of now the department is unaware about the reasons why the names of genuine voters did not appear in the final voters’ list.
Similarly, names of many genuine voters did not appear in the final list and the election department is virtually clueless about exactly how many genuine voters could not vote this time.
It was claimed by the authorities before the polling that people whose names are already there in the voters’ list and who are not ‘D’ voters can exercise their franchise in the election.
As per the final voters’ list published by the Election Commission on 6th February 2019, there are 4,140 “D” voters in Kamrup (M), who fall under Gauhati LS constituency.
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Until the time of publishing the draft voters’ list on 18th October 2018, the district had 4,281 “D” voters, of whom 141 voters were able to prove their nationality and were set to vote this election.
But the issue that remains is how many genuine voters were not able to vote and what the reason for the deletion of their names is.