T.N. political party representatives flag anomalies in electoral rolls

The need for the removal of duplicate entries and names of dead people from the electoral rolls and correcting the mismatch between the voters’ photos and names were among the major issues flagged by representatives of recognised political parties at a meeting organised by the Election Commission of India (EC) on Thursday.

The need for the removal of duplicate entries and names of dead people from the electoral rolls and correcting the mismatch between the voters’ photos and names were among the major issues flagged by representatives of recognised political parties at a meeting organised by the Election Commission of India (EC) on Thursday.

Representatives of nine parties attended the meeting chaired by Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo in Chennai.

DMK representative R.S. Bharathi said his party had flagged various issues, but they had not been resolved. He said the entries did not match with the rolls that officials at the polling booths had during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The names of many voters of a religion were deleted from the rolls, and the DMK flagged the issue, he said. While many of the dead were still part of the rolls, many of those alive could not find their names, he added. BJP functionary Karu. Nagarajan said that while the name of the husband was present on the rolls, his wife’s name was absent and in some cases, the parents were part of the rolls, but their children were not. “We asked how a person residing at the same address for long could go missing from the rolls.”

His party also questioned how polling percentage could be arrived at when about 20% of the voters on the rolls shifted out of an area.

AIADMK leader and former Minister D. Jayakumar said his party had flagged several issues at such meetings organised by the Election Commission, but they were yet to be resolved. The mismatch between the photos and names of the voters was among the issues highlighted, he said. “Many persons, dead for 10 or 15 years, remain on the rolls,” Mr. Jayakumar said, pointing out that death certificates could be sourced from the department concerned and the rolls could be cleaned up.

Communist Party of India functionary G.R. Ravindranath said the Election Commission should distribute forms for inclusion of names in the rolls to students who were about to attain the age of 18. “We insisted that the forms be issued to them in colleges. The details of the camps should be advertised through the media,” he said. Aam Aadmi Party functionary Stella Mary insisted that the names of the dead and the duplicate entries be taken off the rolls. Representatives of the Congress, the CPI(M), and the DMDK also took part at the meeting. The EC will release integrated draft rolls on October 29. Claims and objections can be filed between October 29 and November 28. Special campaigns are being planned for November 16 and 17 and 23 and 24. The final rolls will be published on January 6, 2025.