Names missing from voters’ lists again in Uttarakhand local body elections

Less than a month before chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar demits office on 18 February, questions have again surfaced about the conduct of elections, this time in Uttarakhand. Even as the hill state went to the polls on Thursday, 23 January to elect representatives to around 100 local bodies, large-scale complaints of ‘voter-deletion’ did the rounds, with even a former chief minister complaining that his name was missing from the electoral rolls.

While local body elections are conducted by state election commissions, which are also entrusted with the task of preparing, revising and correcting electoral rolls, the procedures are vetted and supervised by the Election Commission of India. 

"It is entirely my fault," former chief minister Harish Rawat said. He had cast his vote at the same booth in the Lok Sabha election last year, but found his name missing from the list on Thursday. "I should have been more vigilant; I have been active in public life and I have the resources to check it out in advance; but I took it for granted and was complacent," he told the media.

Rawat had got in touch with the state election commission and was told that the server was down and once the connection was restored, they would check it out. BJP state president and MP Mahendra Bhatt told the media that it was comical to find Rawat search for his name on polling day. Since Rawat had contested elections from various constituencies, he suggested, the former chief minister was not certain if he was a voter in rural or urban areas. 

However, Rawat was not alone. As polling was held on Thursday to elect people’s representatives to around 100 local bodies, thousands of complaints poured out on social media.

Dr Gaurav Luthra posted a photograph on X and wrote, “Went specially to fulfil my responsibility to vote today for the local elections in Dehradun with my 80 years old mother and 5 other family members only to find that all our names are struck off from the voter list. Have lived in the same house for 50 years. Magic of democracy”.

News reporters, too, found widespread complaints of missing voters at various booths in Dehradun itself.

Anoop Nautiyal, a retired civil servant, posted a video appeal within an hour of the start of polling. Hoping that the appeal would reach the ears of the Uttarakhand High Court judges in Nainital, he pleaded that the counting of votes scheduled for Saturday, 25 January be stayed until a credible inquiry could be conducted to ascertain the veracity of the complaints. Nautiyal emphasised that he was not connected to any political party, but was disturbed over the large number of complaints that he was receiving on his phone through calls and WhatsApp messages.

“The way #Uttarakhand State Election Commission has conducted ULB election is a huge disservice to citizens of #Dehradun. I am quite certain that many other towns across the state have missing names from voter list. There is a need for independent inquiry & action!” he posted on X.

Gurdeep Singh Sappal, a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee and a coordinator in the office of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, shared a similar experience. The names of four members of a family in ward 80 in Dehradun, who were known to him, were found missing at the booth.

The family was astonished because their names had been verified by a booth level officer (BLO) just two months ago. Concerted efforts and arguments for the next three hours finally led to the names being miraculously ‘found’ online. And this time, miraculously again, the correct voters’ list also materialised at the same booth.

The usual complaints of slow voting and booth officials pleading their helplessness also surfaced. A ‘dance of democracy’ indeed.