Distance, delay and deletions in Hyderabad Lok Sabha polls

Hyderabad Lok Sabha polls marred by distance, deletions, and delays leading to shock and confusion among voters and party workers.

Three Ds - distance, deletions and delays - appeared to have played spoilsport for electors of the Hyderabad Lok Sabha polls that recorded the lowest turnout.

Voters, and party functionaries who were given charge, opined that they were shocked to find names being deleted from the rolls. Some of them maintained that they had exercised their right to franchise only in last year’s Telangana Assembly Elections.

“Eight names from my household were deleted from the electoral rolls,” said S Q Masood, an activist. What is ironic is that Mr Masood’s area of work includes electoral issues. “My name, my wife’s, mother’s, three brothers and their respective wives’ names were deleted. Apart from these names, two cousins could not find their names on the list. This is of course shocking. I have already written to the ERO, but the elections are done .”

The road to the Madrasa-e-Saliheen Polling Station in Biryani Shah Dargah Tekri is steep which an unskilled biker will find difficult to negotiate. Party Workers posted there to monitor polling said, “We have over 150 deleted voters. We were surprised by this. A lot of people who climbed all the way up here had to return,” a worker who requested anonymity told The Hindu. A constable posted there nodded in agreement, adding that some voters who had voters slips too had to turn back.

Mr. Masood who sought to check whether his name was on the Absentee Shifted Dead (ASD) voter list, said that there were less than 30 names on it, a stark contrast as compared to the 150-odd struck off the electoral rolls.

“Several voters who live close to this polling booth have to vote in a completely different neighbourhood, and vice versa. There was a lot of confusion because of this,” another polling agent said.

Another elector, who cast his vote in the previous elections near the Balshetty Khet Playground in Noorkhan Bazaar, about a quarter of a kilometre from his house said that his polling booth this Lok Sabha elections changed. He now had to drive much further to a SETWIN property near Khilwat.