GUWAHATI: A voter, who voted in 2021 Assam Assembly elections, did not find his name in the voter list at the polling station in Guwahati when he went to cast his vote on Tuesday, May 7 for the Lok Sabha elections.
On being queried, the Kamrup (Metro) District Election officer told GPlus that nothing could be done now.
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This happened on a day when the Election Commission of India flooded phones with a request to join the “biggest celebration” of democracy by voting.
However, many in Guwahati could not join the “celebration” for no fault of theirs.
A voter of Guwahati Central Assembly constituency (previously Gauhati East), who voted in 2021 at the office of the Inland Water Transport, Ulubari, talking to GPlus said, “I voted in 2021 and never missed voting in the past but my name was not there in the voters’ list today,” adding that he was not allowed to vote despite being a responsible citizen. Names of his family members were on the list and they were allowed to vote.
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The voter complained to the Booth Level Officer (BLO) who informed him that the list was prepared by the District Administration and it may have happened because of some technical glitch. The BLO searched for the name in the entire list but was unable to find it.
The voter had to return home without voting despite being a registered voter.
The GPlus team visited the office of the Inland Water Transport, Ulubari which is the polling station of the complainant and discussed the issue with the BLO, Sanjib Sarma.
Sarma said, “The name is not on the list and I cannot do anything now. I assure that the name will be there in the list for the 2026 Assembly elections.” When questioned why the name was deleted from the list, the BLO said that he was unaware of it and the final list is prepared by the District Election Office. He said that he received two more similar cases today and he will enquire about these after the elections.
GPlus spoke to the Kamrup (Metro) District Election Officer Sumit Sattawan, who is also the District Commissioner, and he said that nothing can be done now.
“We had published the draft voters’ list long back and if anyone had a complaint he could have approached us and we would have rectified it,” said Sattawan adding that till yesterday he helped people who did not have their names in the list. On enquiring why the name was deleted in the first place, Sattawan agreed that there might be a technical error as systems were upgraded after delimitation last year.
It is ironical that when a voter’s name is registered he gets the voter ID card and other notifications, but if the name is deleted no information is provided. The voter who was deprived had never missed voting and had never checked the draft electoral roll before. Once he received the voter’s card he felt he could vote, and the same is the feeling of the crores of voters in the country. If checking the draft electoral roll is so important why is awareness not created to ask the voters to check it?
Some other voters also faced different issues in some polling stations in Guwahati. A voter was not allowed to vote in a polling station in Manipuri Basti as the EPIC number didn't match the photograph in the electoral list, even though the photo in the voter ID was correct.
The BLO of the polling station, Priyalata, talking to GPlus said, “A few voters came in today whose EPIC numbers didn't match the photographs in the electoral list, even though the photos in the voter identity cards were in order. We had to turn them away and they couldn't cast their votes because of the anomaly,” adding that she will file a complaint with the Election Commission after the voting is over.
GPlus tried talking to the Assam Chief Election Officer (CEO), but he was unavailable for comment. A source in the office of the CEO talking to GPlus on condition of anonymity said that there are many such cases in the Kamrup (Metro) district and management of electoral rolls by the officials was not efficient.
Several such issues across Guwahati were observed preventing many from voting. On one hand, the Election Commission of India spends crores spreading awareness of the importance of voting, but on the other hand, genuine voters are deprived of their right to vote, and their participation in the “celebration of democracy.”